Survival of the Fittest
by The Jade Empress
Summary: The flock kicked Max out thinking that she was working for the school. It's two years later and the flock believes she is dead, but they couldn't be more wrong. Now Max has a new family, the Rebels, which contains five other extraordinary girls.
1. Alone

**Hi! I'm The Jade Empress! This is my first Fanfiction story, so I would appreciate your comments and feeback. Anything that will help me grow as a writer would be really great.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Maximum Ride. James Patterson does**

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><p>Max's P.O.V<p>

"Be careful with the specimen!" a white coat shouted, while cleaning some sharp metal instruments that were to be used on me during the experimentation.

Ha, like they care about me. I'm Max, Maximum Ride, and if they actually cared I wouldn't be in this situation right now, being tested on by white coats and strapped down to a cold metal platform. I would rather be flying over an open field with the flock near the E-shaped house, but you know what? That's just not my life. Instead I'm stuck in the school once more, but this time I'm on my own.

"This test is very important - we need to knock her out with this sedative. Be very careful! This test will assist us with our future research in her abilities."

One of the white coats prodded a sharp needle into my skin and then injected a dark blue liquid. I saw the black dots begin to creep up in the corner of my eyes. The room started to shift, faces started to blur together, and then I was plunged into darkness.

All of a sudden, dreams started flashing towards me. At first nothing made sense, but as soon as everything started coming into focus, I knew this was no dream, but me reliving a nightmare that occurred two years ago.

_Flash back: About 2 years ago_

_The flock and I had been flying for a while somewhere above Arizona. We had been planning on going to my mom's, but unfortunately Erasers ruined our plans and we had to head back up in the sky again. The flock had seemed distant and in deep thought for the past few days and I had decided to ask them about it face to face later tonight. The sun was setting and soon it would be getting dark. _

"_Going down," I yelled behind me and without another glance or word, they all rushed down, leaving me in the air. _What's up?_ I thought curiously._

"_**Max," **__the voice said in a hushed tone.__** "Be prepared. Soon the school will capture you, and you will be left all alone. Changes will occur soon and you might not like all of them."**_

"_Ok…" I answered. "And when exactly will this happen?" No reply as usual. I sighed and flew down to where my flock was waiting in a semi-circle, which was very odd._

"_Ok guys. Let's start setting up camp. Fang and Iggy, go gather some fire wood. Dylan, get the supplies we bought from the store and organize them in our backpack so we know who has what in case of emergencies. Nudge and Gazzy, can you see if there is a stream nearby for water? Angel and I will - "_

"_Max, the flock and I want to talk to you right now. It's very important." insisted Fang in a hard, cold tone._

"_Can't it wait? We really should set up camp before nightfall. I mean, if you want to search for fire wood while it's dark out, be my guest, but we should seriously set -"_

"_No, Max, it _can't_ wait. See…" Dylan murmured softly. His skin was glowing in the sunlight, which was slowly fading. His handsome features were full of worry and sorrow._

"_Well, spit it out, Dylan. You have my attention, now tell me what you were going to say and stop being a wuss," I let out an annoyed sigh. Ever since he joined us, he'd been saying "I'm your perfect half," repeatedly. In case you can't figure it out, it is quite annoying. _

_All the flocks' eyes flicked back and forth quickly. Nudge even licked her lips with what seemed to be… anticipation? Suddenly I realized that they were having a mental conversation, arguing silently on what Dylan was about to say. Finally, Iggy, whose face was closed off, took a deep breath and got straight to the point._

"_Cut the act, Max. We know you're betraying the flock. It's not me or anyone else, but we know for fact it's you."_

"_I…Wait what?" I spluttered, still completely confused on what he had just said._

"_Here's the deal, Max," Angel stated, "the flock has agreed that you should no longer be leader - in fact we're kicking you out. I'm sorry," Then why was there no regret in her eyes, in none of their eyes? They were all cold from what I could tell and I could even detect a little… anger and resentment? This was all so confusing._

"_Angel, if this is another one of your power moments, then cut it out," I replied in a hard voice. I was still trying to figure out what this was all about and quickly, while at the same time I was hoping that this was all a joke._

"_Max, I don't want to be leader anymore. I've seen how it can drive people crazy. I mean, look at you!" Angel stated in a voice like a cold metal platform._

"_I'm not crazy and I deserve a full explanation," I whispered, my heart being ripped into pieces. The people I loved for so long, actually trusted and put down my emotion shields for. The ones who I took care of throughout their lives were abandoning me? Even though I have always been there for them and always put them first?_

"_Well, for a fact, Maximum," Fang spat out my name disgustedly, "you are the one leading the white coats to us. We thought they wanted you and only you, but now we know the truth. All along you have been playing a game with us, making us think you cared, making me believe that you loved me!" His bitterness turned to absolute rage. "But really you've been playing a sick game, with those sick minded people! We should have known this from the beginning, when you started to get those voices! It was all too ironic, but I let it slip by, because I believed you! I trusted you, we trusted you, but you let us down!"_  
><em>Fang could no longer talk he was so enraged. <em>

_My eyes had started welling up with tears and I choked back a sob._

"_Please!" I beg, and if you don't know, Maximum Ride does _not_ beg, "this is all a mistake! I would never -"_

"_Save your excuses, Max, you're crazy and sick-minded. I can't believe we let you be our leader. You're a horrible person and a careless leader." Gazzy replied bitterly._

"_Just leave, you've already caused us enough harm!" Nudge choked out._

_I could tell that even though she didn't like me, she still didn't enjoy this fight._

_It was hard to process; Fang with the terrible emotions radiating off of him, Iggy looked like one of his own bombs slowly ticking down till an explosion. Nudge, my baby, who always was my number one supporter was letting me down and Gazzy, my little trooper, was quitting on me. Even though Angel and II didn't always come eye to eye I never thought it would end like this, but I guess everyone makes a mistake._

"_You've heard what we want, Max," Angel hissed, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Now leave or we'll force you." And with those words the flock got into their fighting stances. "Go; go home to your white coat friends. They're your family. We never actually loved you and we never will love you. So leave because we don't want you here and you're causing unnecessary harm. You were never a real part of the flock."_

_Angel's little speech struck me into a moment of stillness. I let their words sink in and I actually processed it all. This was real - not a nightmare. Real. All the hatred was directed towards me and that's when my emotional and mental barriers snapped up._

"_Fine," I retorted. My glare seemed to make the evening air chill. Drops of water began to fall, slowly making the sky dark, and all of the noises in the forest stopped as if to listen to me. "But you should all keep in mind that this is the biggest mistake of your lives."_

_I turned to walk away, picking up my bag swiftly, while I slowly began to open my speckled wings, when suddenly I stopped in my tracks. "Also, remember that if one of you come crawling back to me I personally swear I will break you," I screeched, my voice almost cracking. I wouldn't let it. I couldn't show the flock my weakness, not now when they were all scrutinizing my every move. "You should know from living with me for so long that I never, ever break my promises. I don't know you anymore." I whispered this so they had to listen really carefully._

_Then, I screamed like a madman, not feeling an ounce of sadness or pain, just hysteria because everything I knew and thought was solid in my life was gone. And I just…flew away, feeling their eyes bore into my back. I quickly went into overdrive and was a blur on the horizon in a matter of seconds._

_After I flew a long distance away from the __ex-flock,__ I flew down to the ledge of an empty cave and it began to rain buckets. As soon as my feet touched the dusty floor, my legs crumpled beneath me. I was exhausted and an emotional wreck. Dragging my body into the cave, my head went over the upheaval of everything I thought I knew, over and over, like a broken record. _

_When I was fully inside this shelter I was drenched head to toe, but I couldn't have cared less. I couldn't feel it. At the moment my hands were shaking and sobs racked my body and I cried more tears than ever before, until my vision went blurry. The heartache didn't stop until I saw the black dots dancing in my vision._

_I sniffled once and succumbed to unconsciousness. _

_End of flash back_

I slowly wake to the sound of an Eraser talking to me in whispers. "Well, well, Maxi's finally come around from her beauty sleep. I think I like you a lot more while you're sleeping though, you're so peaceful and quiet."

I would've punched him in the gut if I could, but right then I was strapped to a metal table, drowsy from the medicine and there were 5 flyboys with guns in the room.

It was nice to know that I had a reputation going on.

One of the white coats stuck another needle into my skin and once more the room became fuzzy. I felt like Jell-O and I think I even started humming. The name of the song I was humming, I have no clue.

"This sedative should keep her out until you get her to her cell. That doesn't mean you can take your time, though. Who knows? She could miraculously wake up in the hallway and escape if she wanted to - she's that strong. Isn't she the most perfect specimen? Also, remember to keep extra care we did some test while she was down. We think another mutation is going to occur, but we just can't tell what it will be."

"OK," replied a flyboy.

"If anything happens, I will have your parts dismantled and crushed!"

"She is fascinating! This experiment is amazing. I cannot wait till the next mutation comes!" One of the newer recruits exclaimed.

"Hope you don't regret that buddy, because whatever it is it will be as unpredictable as her."

As soon as he said that I went limped and blacked out, again.

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><p><strong>Please review!<strong>

**The Jade Empress**


	2. Sam

**Hi it's the Jade Empress agian. I really loved that I got five reviews. Thank you to all of the people out there who read the first chapter.**

**I would like to give credit to one of my best friends who helps me edit my story. I won't say her name, but she is a major part of the quality of the story.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Maximum Ride. James Patterson does**

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><p>Max's P.O.V<p>

I woke up groggily to the heavy scents of antiseptics, but for once they did not make me flinch.

The room was blurry and muffled at first. Let's see how smart you are. Guess where I woke up?

If you guessed a five star hotel, than my question to you is: Seriously, did your mom drop you on your head as a baby or something? If you guessed the forest, I'd say: Where have you been? And if you guessed a small confined room, you'd sadly be absolutely right.

Now, on a serious note, I am in a small white room that has a few ripped up, smelly blankets, a toilet, a sink and a tray of food and water. The reason I did not mention a bed is that those White coats decided to take security up a notch. They believe I would take the springs and use them as a weapon. They're catching on real fast, bummer, right? But they aren't catching on quick enough.

The reason I have a room instead of a cage like the good old days is that the white coats don't want me planning anything or rousing the other brainwashed mutants and I'm a disturbance when I'm in a cage, apparently.

Anyway, I'll catch you up quickly. After I left the flock I was immediately set on survival mode. There was constant fighting, running, and flying. At first I had a stage that lasted about three weeks where I was just angry from the flock's betrayal. I've found that emotion has a really big impact on my fighting skills. I tend to be stronger, but less aware of my surroundings and at the same time more vulnerable. Then there was grief, but that didn't last too long, because out there, if I showed weakness I'd most likely have been dead meat by now.

Finally, after many weeks I just couldn't run anymore and I decided to just let the school take me. At first they did nothing with me except patch me up, because I was too weak from the past few months and I was in critical condition. I know, pathetic, right? That's never stopped me before, but not only was I physically damaged, but I was emotionally damaged, on top of it. If you didn't already know, I do _not_ cope well with my emotions I don't like.

Once I was physically ready, they started doing easy tests on me, which included how long or fast I could run, mini battles with fellow mutants, or mazes without opponents in them. These little tests that I used to hate when I was younger actually made me feel slightly better. It's strange how it works: I didn't enjoy the tests, but the tests encouraged me to get up and no longer mope around, but to improve myself till I could escape from school. Then I would show the world of what I was made.

As soon as I started to improve, the tests became much more difficult. I learned how to only have an impassive face, almost like Fang's, in case they created some type of emotional test. It's hard to learn to control my emotions. If I showed any emotion here everything would just get worse. The main problem in the beginning was that my eyes were gateways to my emotions. You could tell everything from one glance. But now I, too, have conquered the impassive mask.

Instead of my emotions, the white coats were more focused on my physical abilities. The tests revolved around the mazes. These mazes are extreme for any mutant other than me and one other. Even the flock would have freaked if they had to do them.

When I first completed the tests, they took a tremendous amount of energy from me, but now I can do it in 30 minutes flat. The white coats released 100 erasers and 50 flyboys (yes, armed) into a giant maze (like in that Harry Potter book...think Goblet of Fire.) and I had to make my way out of it before they got me. Basically it was a game of survival of the fittest. Succeed one day, you live, fail the next, kiss goodbye to your sorry excuse for a living. Its life and I only get one, so I might as well live it. Some of the other mutants think I'm amazing for surviving such tasks, while others fear me. Not that I care, really. After the little incident with the ex-flock, I've subconsciously decided not to get too close to anyone else other than Sam. Who, like me, is not a boy, but a girl.

I met Sam when I was forced to fight her in the arena.

_Flashback- the fight __**Bold=mentally said**_

"_Come on, move along, experiment 25001, we do not want to be late," a white coat said as she_ _shoved me into the metal door that led to the arena. "Here is the deal: you are fighting another_ _mutant today. Just like you, she is unbeatable. I cannot tell you any more. Hopefully, you will_ _live." She mentioned this in a dead, bland voice. Can't you see how much she cares for me?_

_Quickly, she closed and locked the metal door, leaving me in the arena. I quietly scanned my_ _surroundings. The arena was basically a large round fenced in area outside. Imagine a giant_ _field, but instead of grass, there's a dirt floor. The side I was shoved in was a blank, brown wall_ _with two metal doors; one for me and one for the other mutant, who had not already showed up. I_ _suspected the walls were in some way like one way windows. The scientists see you, but you_ _can't see them. I don't know about you, but that kind of creeped me out._

_The reason I can't fly away is simple. This is before I could create force fields. Also, hanging in_ _the air about 60 meters from the ground are electrical barb wires that enclose the whole place._

_As I heard the other metal door slide open, I quickly turned. In came another girl with these clear_ _green eyes and a thin but still really athletic build. I could not see what was so special with her,_ _but that was a major mistake most people make here in the arena. Never underestimate your_ _opponent or, and trust me on this, it'll be your downfall. I slowly expanded my brown speckled_ _wings to intimidate her and sarcastically stated, "well, I guess this is when we fight."_

_The girl didn't even go into a stance- instead, she just lunged at me. Lucky for me, I sidestepped_ _just in time and was now on her left. I made a quick jab to her unguarded stomach, but as fast as_ _lightning she deflected my hand and shot out a kick that I narrowly escaped._

_I cocked my head at her, examining the slightest movement. When I looked into her eyes I_ _noticed that I could no longer see the green, because her eyes were in slits. Also, fangs_ _appeared out of her mouth. A snake mutant, I presumed, and it didn't surprise me, what these_ _white coats had managed to do. Did I mention that those three inched fangs look sharp, lethal,_ and_ venomous?_

_Once more, she lunged, but as I moved to the side, she changed directions. She had learned_ _her lesson the first time and tackled me to the ground. As I fell, I heard a rib go CRACK and my_ _head hit the ground with a thud. My brain couldn't even begin to process that I may have gotten a concussion. As the girl lunged at my neck I felt my body heat up and I was the center of flames._

_She jumped off me with her hands and legs scorched._

_At first when I was listening to the noise she was making, I thought she was growling, but then I_ _listened more carefully and heard that she was actually hissing, a forked tongue slipping out_ _every so often between her fangs as she glared at me. I quickly stood up and held an equally_ _cold gaze._

_It was then that I had a light bulb moment. It was a brilliant, but risky idea. I lunged at the snake_ _girl, taking her by surprise, and she reacted exactly how I thought she would. She sidestepped_ _me, but I continued my path. As my back was turned, she jumped on my back and I went down_ _easily. But while she was on top of me, I rolled over, so she was under me with her arms pinned_ _near her head so she couldn't move._

"_Just finish me off then. I'm not afraid to die. I've done it with other mutants, so just end it." __Snake girl hissed, but I could still see the fear held in her eyes._

"_**Listen. I'm not going to kill you." **__Her eyes widened in surprise. __**"Don't worry, they can't**_ _**hear us. You can reply too and I'll be able to hear you."**_

_Snake Girl's eyes returned to her normal color, jade green, and her fangs began to disappear_ _into her mouth as if they were never there. Warily, she replied "__**How can I trust you?"**_

"_**I didn't kill you when I had the chance," **__was my reply._

"_**Interesting point... Here are a few more questions: why haven't you killed me, and who**_ _**are you?"**_

"_**First of all, my name is Max. I am part avian and human. I want to propose that you and **__**I could form a…team. We would find out information about schools around the world and**_ _**then together we would escape this wretched prison. Afterward, you can leave or stay**_ _**with me. If you join me, I promise to protect you if you do the same for me. That is my**_ _**proposition. Take it or I have to kill you."**_

_At first, there was no reply. I secretly hoped she would agree so I wouldn't have to kill her. She_ _would make a powerful ally._

"_**I'm in."**__ she replied finally, __**"And my name's Sam**__. __**But what about the scientist? He won't**_ _**be happy about one of us not dying..."**_

"_Oh, don't worry about it..." I replied confidently out loud, flashing a mischievous smile as I let_ _Sam up. "Im not going to kill her and you can't make me," I shouted out loud so the whitecoats could hear. I could just imagine the disbelief and anger that would be on their faces. I waited a couple of minutes with Sam fridgetting at my side._

_Then the impossible happened - the metal doors just slid open. ANGRY scientists waited to escort us back to our rooms._

_End of flashback_

Turns out that the scientist had a huge argument about killing both of us, but we were just too valuable to kill. Isn't that so sweet?

Sam is just like me in age, 16. She has dark chocolate hair with natural purple streaks and hypnotizing green eyes. Unlike me, she does not have avian DNA. Sam has some kind of snake DNA; I personally think she is part Sea Snake. The reason I believe this is, because one of her powers are breathing underwater, she can sense things by heat. She also has healing, super speed, she can turn into a medium sized snake, and when in human form, her eyes can turn to slits and she grows 3 inched fangs in her mouth that have very deadly venom. Also, she has enhanced abilities like strength, speed, and sight.

I consider Sam my sister.

Over the two years I've been at The School, my powers have really increased. I guess you could say I'm now a genetic jackpot, and in a way that is sort of true. At the beginning of the experimentation, the white coats injected me with a new serum that was supposed to speed up my mutations. I still can breathe under water, fly at supersonic speeds and hear voices, but one plus is that my speed while flying has increased from 300 miles per hour to 400 miles per hour. Not only has my flying been enhanced, but my vision, speed, strength, intelligence, and hearing have increased by tenfold. Also, some of the newer abilities are creating force fields and reading/controlling minds - just like Angel, but I am far more advanced than her capabilities. Along with those powers, I can control the elements fire and water.

I'm completely clueless on what my next mutation will be, but when it happens, it happens.

Anyway, Sam and I can fight together like an oiled machine. Put us together, and BAM, you're done for. We know each other's moves and styles for fighting and always seem to agree. Lately, we've been trying team efforts against other mutants. Sam and I are sometimes partners in mazes or battles against Erasers.

Also, luckily, the white coats completely underestimated my mind powers, so I freely talk to her through mind communication whenever I want, not only in tests.

Now, if you're wondering why we haven't escaped, the reason is that the white coats have some really amazing security. Even though I have all these powers and everything, white coats keep on creating new equipment to let's say...cancel out my powers.

Even though they have some equipment good enough to render our powers useless, Sam and I can take on a whole legion of Erasers and Flyboys with or without powers. Powers are just handy in some cases.

Right now, we are collecting all the info we can on Schools scattered over the whole world, so once we are out of this prison we can destroy all of them. No longer will anyone have to suffer what I've suffered. I know what you're thinking - who would take on such a large task? I really don't want to, but someone has to do it and, not to be arrogant, but who's better at kicking white coat butt than Sam and I?

Soon we'll make our great escape, but not yet. We still need to figure out what time to launch our plan exactly, because I would never, ever leave Sam behind like the flock did to me, even if it meant a life in a white room.

So far we have learned that there are five Schools in the world. Each one creates new mutants like us, but the thing is, each School has different strategies to advance mutants. I like to give each of the Schools a number in my head, because where the mutant comes from is the trick to defeating it.

School 1 likes to screw with DNA. They tend to create really bizarre mixes. They do mostly three or more combos, but half the time the experiments only live for one year - then they die. The survival rate in that School? Close to nothing, but some still do live to their teenage years. The few that do survive do not have very effective powers, like me or Sam. Here - let's take one I've fought before. It's from School 1- a mix of a lion, eagle, and human. It's like a Griffin from the Greek stories, really ugly. Let's just call them Griffin Hybrids for now. When you see that coming towards you, let's just say you're ready to run. They're really vicious, but around here, every little thing has a fatal flaw. See, when Griffin Hybrids pounce, they land really heavily, and stay in the position for a few extra seconds, like a lion. A few seconds is all you need. At this exact moment, all you've gotta do is jump on their back and, well...strangle them. I know it doesn't sound very pleasant, but remember; here it's do or die.

The school I grew up in, with the ex-flock, is School 2. They believe in experimenting with babies being born...naturally... not from a test tube, like the other Schools. In that School they work on allowing the mutants to mutate on their own, so nothing interferes with the normal growth cycle of a baby, or in this case, the specific mutant. Believe it or not, more mutants radioactive or powerful chemicals that can kill them. School 2 makes more mutants than others, but they just aren't as powerful. The mutants have powers with little or no effectiveness. I was one of the few that were successfully engineered to have the maximum numbers of powers possible.

School 3 is a very interesting case. They prefer to make mutants just for their own amusement. They create all types of creatures - from the stupidest, human/sea cucumber hybrid to the intelligent and almost invincible human/snake hybrid. Yes, Sam did come from this school originally, but she never lost in a battle, so they got bored, of course, and decided to sell her to School 4, which is where we are now. She was sold for a _lot_, and I mean a _lot_, like a million dollars or more. The other Schools were just begging for her. Sam thinks she was auctioned. I don't know. Like I said, this School is an interesting case.

School 4 deals with advancing mutations of successful experiments. The white coats here occasionally create a new life form, but tend to take others Schools' successful mutants and enhance them. To do this, they had to create a powerful serum that can raise the probability of getting another mutation. Sometimes the white coats even take DNA from other experiments that have an interesting or useful power. They then inject it into others, in hope that the DNA will latch on to something already existing inside the body and then multiply. If the DNA makes enough copies of itself inside the body the mutant will be able to have that power, but not as powerful as the original and naturally gifted mutant. The only downside is allergies. If you're allergic to the DNA, say goodbye to your life - there's no way to take it out and you'll die slowly and painfully - I won't give the details, but I've seen it. There is no way to tell if the experiment will or will not be allergic to the DNA, so injecting has some serious risks.

Finally, School 5 keeps track of all the wild and successful experiments created in the other schools. With the data they collect, they know exactly how to make only successful, long- living mutants with highly effective powers. This is why this School will probably be the hardest to destroy out of all of them. They have super cool (yes, I _would_ say that) electronic devices/gadgets and most of the time never make miscalculations when experimenting.

Each school has a mini government-type set-up. Mutants are the citizens of the country.

Interns are the volunteers that clean up white coat messes. White coats are the ones who keep the mutants in line, like the police in a town. At the top sit the most important, Jeb's level – they make all the decisions and decide the punishments and rewards, and basically just run the show and keep the School hidden. The directors are the lucky ones with enough money, enough intelligence, and enough craziness to be able to sit at the top of this precarious hierarchy. They're equal to the president. There are about five of them, I think - one for each School, and they are the pinnacle of the social pyramid. Basically, if a director has to talk to you - or worse, visit you - you're dead. There's no one person in charge, because if one person had too much power catastrophe could ensue. While this empire may appear to agree on everything, I know for a fact that they have lots of issues inside, and one more thing could lead right to a catastrophe. I hope I am the start that catastrophe.

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><p><strong>I would like to note that my posting days will be Fridays for this story, but if I have an extra day during the week I may post an extra chapter. Thank you.<strong>

**Please review and give any feedback you think will help my writing.**

**-The Jade Empress**


	3. Gone

**Once more thank you for the reviews! I'm so happy that you like my story so far. This chapter is from Angel and Fang's POV.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride James Patternson does.**

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><p>FangIggy/Dylan-16

Nudge-13

Gazzy-10

Angel-8

Angel's POV:

She's gone, but not forgotten. It's been two years. Without her, I feel empty and lonely, like I've lost a part of my whole world. Max was… indescribable. I could say that she was like a mother, but that wouldn't even come close to what she was to me and the rest of the flock.

About three weeks after Max left, we found out that she was truly innocent. Flyboys and Erasers continuously poured from the sky like rain. Actually, I think we had more enemy encounters than before. Max never betrayed us. She only loved us, but she found herself stabbed in the back as soon as something minor occurred and made us all suspicious.

Everyone in the flock has been, well, really depressed since she left.

Fang is the leader now, because we found that a flock democracy just doesn't work. There were too many opinions, nothing got done and we needed a leader quickly, because we were falling apart. Fang keeps to himself unless something important is going on. He tries to be a good leader and he is decent I guess, but Fang just isn't Max, however hard he tries.

Iggy's now second in command, but I read his mind the other day. He thinks he doesn't deserve it. He's gotten some idea in his head that he can't do anything right. Everyone knows that his guilt is eating him up. I guess it is for all of us, but it shows for him the most, even to us. He's become more angry and sullen. He doesn't talk to us much and keeps to himself, making and lighting off mini bombs. Fang tried reason with him not to the other day, but they got in a fist fight. Max would've stopped it, but nobody else dared to. There appears to be a budding rivalry between them.

Nudge isn't angry or sad, but has become mute. As soon as we realized our mistakes, she quit talking. We worry for her. She hasn't muttered a single word since. I tried reading her mind once. Her thoughts were kind of weird and distant. I think she's sick. She kind of floats in and out of hallucinations and daydreams about Max and she doesn't really think about anything specifically. But underneath it all, I can tell she hates herself for everything she did. Sometimes I'm afraid she'll leave the flock just to escape it all. She may crack under the pressure. All I know is that she needs help, but she won't let anyone in.

Gazzy is no longer up to his tricks. He and Iggy used to have tons of fun making bombs and lighting them off and making Max angry. He doesn't do any of that anymore. He doesn't even try. He sits and looks off into the distance, almost like a normal person. I think he does want to live a normal life. He doesn't really go near any of us but me, and when I come near him he hugs me really tight for just a second and then let's go really fast and walks away. He used to have a mischievous glint in his eyes, but now they're watery and soulless.

What is so amazing is that all this emotion is coming out of the original flock members, but with Dylan I can't hear anything.

I feel useless and guilty. I'm going crazy, and I'm not just saying that. I mean it. I have enough thoughts about Max on my own, but I have to listen to the rest of the flock's thoughts too. Hearing what's on people's minds didn't bother me before, but now it seems like the flock's thoughts are louder and more powerful than they used to be. I've been trying to channel around everyone's thoughts. I can't tune them out like before when the thoughts were weak, because I don't have full control over my powers and it's torturing me.

I've been having bad dreams at night – dreams about Max coming back and telling me she loves me, dreams of Max alone at night, crying. Dreams of Max happy with another child just like me. Better than me. I would just die of happiness if Max came back and told me she loved me. I don't deserve her love, but I still want it. I'm happy I'm the only mind reader in the flock, so no one can hear my tortured thoughts.

It is like I'm in a nightmare that I'll never wake up from - and worse, I don't have Max to comfort me anymore. But I shouldn't even be considering myself. In the end, her heart was torn out and she was betrayed by her family. The sad longing eyes that I thought were fake died with her.

At first I thought Max's death was worst possible thing. But actually, the worst was that we did not get to apologize. At first we couldn't believe it, but once we accepted she was gone we realized – we were the cause of her death. If we hadn't kicked her to the curb she wouldn't have had the run-in with the erasers or we could have protected her from this fate.

Until we found out that bit of news we were looking for her frantically.

Fang's POV:

I am so stupid. I cannot believe how many times I have said that, but it is true. Max is gone, forever and I didn't even get to say I am sorry. All those things I said to her before she left. That I didn't love her and that I thought she was working for the school. Why, why did I have to be so skeptical? I should have believed her, but now she's gone.

When I found out about her death I felt numb and empty.

_Flashback- Announcement of Max's Death __**(Bold= Voice)**_

_We were flying over the woods where we had abandoned Max. Looking in Caves, on foot and in the air, but she eluded us. Maybe she didn't want to be found. She would hate us for life._

"_No Fang," Angel whispered as she walked next to me. "Even though we hurt Max she would want to be found we are her family." Oh Angel I thought poor naïve Angel._

"_Don't read my mind Angel." My voice was raspy from not much use and little sleep. "I don't want to crush your hopes, but-"_

_A burst of pain went through my head and I fell to the floor. The pain made my head feel like it was exploding. I don't know how long it went on for, but it stopped suddenly. _

_I opened my eyes and light surged in making me retaliate and I closed my eyes. On the second attempt I had to squint until my eyes adjusted. I looked around for any source of life, but couldn't see anything for miles upon miles. There was no light, yet it felt like I was standing in the light. That I could continuously walk in a straight line never touching anything or that something would hold me up as I walked, but there was nothing under me. It seemed that I could walk on forever and nothing would ever change. I was in an undefined white space. _

_What surprised me was when an eerie voice spoke to me,_

"_**Hello Fang, do not talk and listen carefully. Max is dead. She was killed by erasers about two weeks after she left the flock. I know you will be angry, but it is better I tell you to stop the search now. It would only be a waste of time. Now you should focus on keeping the flock safe."**_

"_Why should I trust you?" I said to the voice. "You could be lying. There is no proof that you are telling the truth." I wish I hadn't replied to the voice like that. My mind filled with images of Max bloodied, bruised and battered in the dirt. _

_The undefined space began to change. Color, light and dimension was being added it making it take a new form. At first I couldn't make out what was being created, because the scenery was moving and blurry._

_Once the background became tangible and I could tell I was in the forest. Even with my raptor vision my eyes had to adjust to the surrounding darkness. I saw a dark figure run to a nearby river bank and jump over the wide and deep river. This jump was unnatural. The figure had leapt the whole with of the river which I estimated was 20 feet wide. When the creature jumped it seemed as if it flew over the water and then landed with such grace no human could have mustered._

"_**Why don't you follow her Fang?"**_

"_Who is she?" And then it struck me, Max._

_Quickly I ran after her stumbling over roots and tree branches whacking me in the head. When I finally caught up to Max her shirt had been snagged on a tree and she furiously clawed at it. Max looked exhausted and on the verge of defeat, but as soon as she got her shirt off the branch she took off with an amazing amount of speed. _

_About six miles later she slowed down to take a breather. She kept glancing behind her shoulder nervously looking where I was standing. One glance at her facial features and I could tell she was scared of something in the shadows that I couldn't see or hear. _

_In a few minutes I heard a couple branches snap and her head whipped around from what she was originally looking at and she tensed. I saw a big shadow coming from behind a tree with a torch._

"_Shit. It's him. Why out of all the erasers must it be him? Stupid Scientists." Max mumbled under her breath. The she ran the other way, slipping into the still shadows without a trace that she was once there. _

_I waited to see what was chasing her. A fully morphed eraser stepped out of the trees. "Has little birdy taken flight?" He cooed. Now this eraser had muscles rippling on his arms and was two times larger than a normal eraser. I can tell why Max was scared; I couldn't take down this monster. He put his hand in his ripped jacket pocket and pulled out a few brown speckled primary feathers. _

_Max's feathers._

_Quickly he took a whiff of the scent and headed the direction that Max had gone. I ran after both of them, but even with his weight he had disappeared into the forest silently. I had lost them in a matter of mere seconds._

"_**Go northeast Fang for about 5 miles. You will come to a clearing. Wait there. Quickly now!"**_

_When I got to the clearing I was breathless. There was a wet fog covering the ground and some wet leaves quietly shuffled._

_I was watching the tall leafy bushes that were swaying, when all of a sudden Max tumbled out of them. Her hair was a mess, her face was bloody, she was limping on her left leg, her wing was tucked in on her back, but you could tell it was bent at a strange angle, and worst of all was her eyes. They were bloodshot, wild and looked possessed like a crazed demon._

"_Hey birdy, birdy," Erasers growled as they slowly emerging from behind her. "Are you ready for dinner, because you're the main course." _

_Max tried to fly away, but one of them grabbed her ankle and pulled her down. She fell with a large thump. As I watched I felt like I wanted to move to help her, but I couldn't. I was frozen in my tracks literally. I wasn't shocked, but there was some sort of power holding me back. _

_It began raining as the five erasers circled around her laughing like idiots. She was on the ground trying to get up, but each of them was taking a turn to punch and kick her. The biggest and hairiest of them all who was obviously the leader and the overly mutated eraser held up his clawed hand. The rest moved back, but didn't break their circle. The leader grabbed her by the neck and held her against a tree._

"_Have anything to say sweetheart before you die?" growled the leader._

"_Go to hell," Max spat at his face._

"_I'm sorry dear, but I'm not going to die. You are. Say hello to the devil when you get there."_

"_Then hello," Max growled. "It doesn't matter anyway. I have no one anymore. The flock betrayed me and I have no reason to live. I guess it is true." Rain was dripping down her face or maybe tears?_

"_What's true?" the eraser replied with slight curiosity. I silently prayed she was just stalling until she could create a plan to get away._

_Max looked him strait in the eye, "that friends and family are the ones who hurt you in the end and that your enemies are the ones who can help you. I am ready. I am tired of running and being hunted like an animal."_

_No, is what I wanted to scream, but I couldn't and if I could it wouldn't have mattered, because I figured it was just a memory. All the things I wanted to say to her like "I'm sorry, we miss you, it was all a big mistake, don't die I need you and the flock needs you," flooded my mind, but I could grasp the words that formed on my lips. What I wanted to tell her would never happen._

"_Oh," realization dawning on the erasers ugly face. "Then it is my pleasure. Sweet dreams little birdy." And in one fluid motion he snapped her neck. Max was gone. He dropped her on the ground, she was sprawled out and her eyes were wide open and accusing me for her death. Lightning cracked and rain was pouring down in buckets._

_The erasers outline began to move away until I could no longer see them._

"_**You've seen what has happened Fang. Now get up!"**_

_When I opened my eyes from the memory light flooded in. When my eyes readjusted I saw the flock surrounding me with tears in the corners of their eyes. Angel let out a quiet gasp._

"_Angel I told you not to read my mind."_

"_Was that really true? What the voice showed you? Was that true?" Angel was now bursting into tears along with everyone else except for Iggy and I. Iggy looked like he was just too shocked to cry._

_Angel had projected my talk and memory with the voice to the whole flock. Now they were all devastated._

"_I'm not sure Angel, but," I was trying to find the right words. "I think it was."_

_End of flashback_

After that the worst experience was when we had to tell Max's mom and Ella. They didn't take the news, so greatly. We told them the whole truth, which included us kicking Max out. They deserved to know the truth.

Now we are officially banished from their household, because of what we did to their daughter/ half-sister. I don't blame them though. Ella also slapped Iggy and I and glared at the kids with the same cold eyes as Max, which made my heart throb.

Even though the whole flock (minus Max, duh) agreed on kicking her out, I can't not feel a tad bit guiltier then the rest should. My best friend, my first and only love is now gone… forever.

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><p><strong>I have a challenge for my readers. Could you please suggest a mutation that Max could get, because in the beginning of the story I did mention that a mutation would occur. I have some ideas already, but I would like to hear more suggestions on what you think.<strong>

**Please review**

**-The Jade Empress**


	4. Breakout

**Hi guys! Thank you for the reviews on chapter 3. I love the support and your enthusiasm.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Maximum Ride. James Patterson does**

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><p>Max's POV <strong>Bold= mentally said<strong>

Escape.

That's what I've been thinking about for the past three days. I dream about being able to feel the breeze when I fly and inhale the smells of the outdoors, but it would be deadly to show the anxiety on my face. The white coats have no clue that today is the day I will leave this prison and that School four will be no more. I can't wait.

I was sitting in the corner of my room thinking of all the possibilities that could occur and unconsciously playing with the metal paperclip in my hand. Slowly the heavy door of my room creaked open.

"Experiment 25001, it is time for your daily testing." said one of the meeker and kinder white coats. I stood up from my corner and walked over to her. I quickly peered out to see how many guards were in the hallway.

There were only ten burly erasers. Perfect. The plan would be simple and quick. Slowly, we trudged down the white hallways that I'd memorized over the past two year. The plan had to be perfect. I ran through it in my head, searching at the last minute for any flaws. I was confident, but I could never be too careful. When we came to the examining room, I saw Sam going down the corridor toward the right with erasers surrounding her. Good, the plan was still in order.

"Go into the room and sit her down in the examining chair. Don't forget to lock down her wrists and ankles." the white coat in a monotone voice, not even looking up from her clip board.

"C'mon, little bird," the erasers mocked, ushering me into the pale room. In the room there was a treadmill and the chair I had sat on for the past two years. The back wall was lined with fancy electronics that could do torturous things to its victims, and in the corner, on a counter, there were needles ranging widely in size (though most of them were large). I mentally shuttered at the thought that the needles were all for me.

I let the erasers handcuff me to the chair, hands and feet - it was the whole deal. When they left the room, I figured I had less than five minute to get myself out of this chair or I'd be stuck here while Sam carried out my marvelous plan.

I opened my hand quickly and in the center of my palm was the metal paper clip I had been playing with before. Thank God those lazy erasers overlooked the small paperclip, the most important part of the plan. It was my escape key. I turned my wrists so I could get a good angle, being slow so that the handcuffs wouldn't creek. I shuffled that paper clip tip around in the lock until I heard the small noise. _Click_.

Bingo.

With one hand free, I swiftly picked the rest of the locks that kept me bound to the chair. Once I was free to move around the room, I hid behind the door, just as it opened. In walked two white coats and an eraser.

"…for the tests. I need them by 12:00, no later. Earlier would be good though."

"Don't worry. I'll get them to you in time, so what are we doing with…" Both of the white coats turned to the eraser. "Where is she?" spat the first, bald white coat. He saw the shackles on the floor and the fact that I was no longer there kind of gave it away, but it was too late. My hand was on the door in a matter of seconds and it slammed behind them.

"Here I am, boys." They spun around to look for the source of my voice. I got one look at the white coats' faces and realized with slight pleasure that fear was dominating over their facial features. This little game was going to be lots of fun (though I wasn't usually a sneaky type of person). The eraser was the only calm one in the room. I assumed that he was eraser version 3.0, because he was larger than the usual eraser. This was obvious when his muscles rippled as he morphed and he grew a few inches in size.

"Birdy, if you know what is good for you, you'll just step down easily before you get hurt," the eraser cooed with false sweetness.

"Hmmm… let me think about that…" my voice dripped with sarcasm. "How about **no**?" the sound of my voice lowered an octave.

"Fine I warned you, but… if you insist I'll be happy to oblige." He sneered at me, cracking his knuckles and took a step forward.

"I doubt that, but let's test you. Let's see what you're made of even though I can tell it's not much." I smirked, stood my ground and yawned. I find it easier to defeat opponents when they are emotionally charged, because they don't notice that they are being setup. They begin to fight emotionally, in this case out of anger, and make mental errors without noticing. Before they know it they have lost the fight.

The eraser growled loudly. Cautiously he advanced on me. He lunged at me with his claws extended. I blocked his punch, twisted his arm behind his back and then did a quick snap kick to his unguarded stomach. He fell back into the counter and the needles went flying. I created a force field so all the shattered glass and needles wouldn't hit me. Thankfully this room is sound proof or everyone would have heard this mini explosion. I scanned my surroundings one white coat was out- he was sprawled in the glass. It looked like he would have a nasty bruise when he awoke, because it seemed he hit his head on the hard tile floor. The bald white coat looked confused and drowsy. He just sat on the floor with a dazed look in his eyes. My head turned as I heard glass crackle and the eraser slowly emerged from the glass and needles. His face was covered on blood and he snarled,

"You want it birdy? Well now it's coming!"

Everything seemed to slow down. The eraser seemed like he was moving though honey. Then then I heard it- a snap behind me and heavy labored breathing.

Something overcame me telling me to move to the left quickly and in the moment of truth I trusted it. I took a quick step to my left and then whipped around. Since I was in the heat of the moment, everything slowed down; I could see every little detail. That the eraser was in mid-way lunge and the bald white coat had been right behind me with a needle in his hand. The two School specialists crashed into each other. The eraser's claws raking the white coat's face while the needle pierced the erasers arm. They stumbled away from each other and then both collapsed. The eraser collapsed, because the needle was a tranquillizer meant for me. The white coat fainted from a loss of blood and a concussion. As I observed the room it looked like a tornado had hit. The needles were broken and everywhere from the floor to the walls. The marble counter was broken in half while the chair was ripped and shredded and the tread mill was an electrical mess. Even though it was unlikely that the white coats and eraser would wake up any time soon I didn't want to take any chances. I tied them up. I grabbed a few sedative needles that were still intact. Who knows, they might be useful in the future.

A smile of triumph came to my face as I observed my handiwork. Stage one complete: Free self and disable guards and now onto stage two: Help free Sam.

I peered out the doorway and saw that no one was patrolling the hallway except one white coat that was snoring in a chair at the end of the hall. Perfect. I slipped down the hall and stood right in front of her. She woke with a start when I tapped her shoulder.

"What are you doing out h-" Let's just say I "convinced" her to give me her lab coat, shoes, I.D., and then "suggested" she go in the room I was in previously and to tie herself up with the left over rope found in the cabinet.

I quickly threw on the lab coat over my dressing gown, put the sneakers over my bare feet, and I quickly put my hair up in a messy bun. That is how you become a white coat in less than five minutes. I think I should get an award. As I was walking down the hallway I checked my pockets for anything useful: a pen, piece of paper (crumpled up,) and twenty-five dollars. When I came to the hallway that Sam was in my first thought was Oh No. In the hallway there were six doors and I didn't know which one she was in.

I tried to speak to Sam with our telepathic communication, but I got no response. Darn, the rooms must have a mind block on them. Guess this will take a little longer than I thought. The first room I went in was a replica of my usual testing room except that there was a Doberman sized crate too. I walked into the room and a felt a huge gust of a cold wind hit me. As I locked the door behind me I felt goose bumps begin to appear on my arms. I walked to the crate slowly not sure if Sam or a different mutant was inside. When I looked inside I saw a figure huddled in the back shivering from the cold temperatures. I took out my paper clip out of my pocket (it's been helping me so much today) and unlocked the cage. The figure turned and crawled out as I backed away.

"Hello Max," said the mutant whose face I recognized instantly. It shocked me who was inside.

"Max II?" I breathed out slowly in a whisper.

"Yeah that's me…but I don't really go by that name any more… I changed my name to Maya, because I didn't enjoy always being compared to you, so in defiance I changed my name." Maya sounded truthful and uncomfortable with her words. Suddenly, she asked, "What you doing in this room and how come you're dressed up as a white coat?"

"I'm getting out of here," I had to place my words right. I wasn't sure if I could fully trust Maya, but at the same time I felt like I needed her to know.

Maya looked at me nervously, "um…can I come with you? I know you have no reason to trust me, but this place is horrible and I have no other place to go to."

I didn't know how to answer this. Part of me said don't, she's just part of the School's conspiracy, while the other half said to give her a chance, before she didn't know better.

"You can… come with us. I mean you haven't attacked me in anyway so far, so you're still in my good graces." I tried to lighten the mood, because her face was so serious. I received a small smile of gratitude in return. I guess is that most I can get for now.

"Here's the deal Maya. I know another person who is going to escape with us, so right now she is our top priority."

"Ok that's fair enough. You lead the way."

I unlocked the door and saw that no one was coming down the hallway. We quickly walked down towards the next door. Inside of the room there was not a single living organism. It was so clean and bare; it hurt my eyes to look at it too long. We left the room quickly.

The third room I tried had a young teenage girl strapped down to a metal platform. She was surrounded by three white coats and there were two flyboys on the other side of the room. A white coat injected a needle into her skin.

"Stop! I hate needles! You do know this is illega-" her cries were muffled by a cloth that was put over her mouth. I stepped in the room, because I could no longer watch her be tortured.

"Hello gentlemen. Now why would you be torturing a poor innocent girl like her?" my tone was full of fake sweetness.

"What are you doing? Are you crazy? Why would you bring attention to us?" Maya whispered in an urgent tone.

"**Ok like you said before. I know you have no reason to trust me, but for now please trust me." **Maya made a slight nod, so the white coats couldn't see that she had gotten a response.

"If you come with us without trouble maybe, we won't give you extra tests for wondering around." As they talked and slowly advanced I took a deep breath and scanned the room without letting them out of my line of vision.

"**Maya you take the white coats. I got the flyboys. Spread out."**

"**Ok, got it."**

I ran at the white coats whose face turned to relief when I jumped over them and landed on the other side. Hopefully Maya would keep them preoccupied for now, while I took care of the two flyboys. This should be easy.

When I landed, I put my hands on top of each other and slowly I felt a warm sensation creep onto my fingers and it eventually overcome my whole body. I pulled my hands away from each other and right in between them was a ball of fire. It was flickering between my fingers trying to spread and grow, but I had enough control to keep it from growing any wilder. The ball of fire expanded till it was the size of a dodge ball. Perfect. I reeled back my hand and threw it at one of the flyboys, hitting its chest. Soon it was engulfed by flames and eventually was a puddle of metal on the tile floor.

I like to call his game Fire dodge ball. I would only recommend you to play this game if you are:

1. Fire proof

2. Can control fire

3. Have really great reflexes.

If you have none of those abilities I'd say don't play. It won't be considered fun unless you want to be consumed by flames.

The next flyboy came at me with a metal pole in its hand. The pole was held high above its head. Before he could even hit me I used his own force against him by grabbing the flyboy's arm which was already in motion. I had a tight hold on it. It snapped in half at the elbow's joint. Then I hit the flyboy hard in it one unfixable weakness- the base of his neck. The flyboy fell forward and collapsed in the ground. Just to make sure this flyboy could never be fixed and used again I put my hands over its metal body without touching it. My hands heated up again and fire jetted out of my fingertips onto the flyboy's body and just like the other, it too became a puddle.

I turned around and saw Maya was handling the white coats on her own without a problem. There were two white coats frozen in a block of ice and she was trying to freeze the other. The problem was every time she tried he would jump away and it looked like it was draining her energy. She'll hold out for a little longer though. I discreetly walked to the metal plat form in which the girl was strapped to. I burned the straps that were binding her body and she stood up immediately. At first she wobbled and then she steadied herself. She put her hands to her temple and then I heard the other white coat scream in fear. His eyes were focused on the little girl, shock was visible through his eyes and then he collapsed in a heap.

"Well that's interesting" the girl mumbled under her breath. "He's afraid of ants even the regular kind." She shook her head in disbelief and then turned to me. This is when I got my first close up look at her. The girl had strait dark brown hair that was slightly curly at the end and olive skin. What was the most interesting feature were her uniquely bright green eyes. They look like my own in some ways. They looked calculating, confident, and surprisingly they had coldness over them. After years of torture I had to expect her eyes to hold some coldness even if she did look like she was meant to be in middle school. It's what the Schools do to kids, they destroys their trust in others.

"Who are you and why are you here?" I guess she was the type to get strait to the point.

"I'm Max and this is Maya" I pointed to Maya as she shuffled our way through the mess. "What's your name?"

"I'm Luna," she said with suspicion and worry laced in her eyes.

"Well Luna, we are trying to find my friend Sam, so we can leave this place. While we were looking for her and we stumbled upon you and I had to help you. If you want you can come with us and leave if you want."

"Just so you understand I'm not that helpless. I could have gotten myself…" Her eyes widened a fraction before returning to their normal stat as if she just remembered something important.

"Wait did you say you're Maximum Ride?"

"Yes, but what does that-"

"Oh, this is a… honor to meet you. I've heard how you're invincible, powerful and… and you lead the flock. Are they escaping with you?" she sounded excited, but stayed calm through this whole little rant.

"Um… The flock isn't with me. They haven't been for two years. I'd explain now, but we have to get out before we are caught. Do you want to come with us?"

She thought this over for a moment, trying to see if there were any negatives to coming with me and then finally replied "Yes. I'd like to."

"Good, then let's go. Also, what did you do to that white coat before?"

"Like you said, I'll tell you later when we are in a safer environment."

"Ok." This made me a little nervous, because the guy had, had a nervous breakdown and she wasn't even near him.

We ran out the door and no one was there. I told Luna and Maya to go to the door that lead to the exit and wait for me there. They agreed and went to hide. I silently hoped that the fourth room would contain Sam and nothing would stall our escape anymore. I opened the door slowly without it making any noise. I saw Sam cornered with two erasers inching forward, while two others were already on the floor. I crept up behind on them without them noticing me. They were too focused on Sam. Sam saw me out of the corner of her eye and smirked.

"**You get the one on the right, while I get the one on the left."**

"**Ok." **Sam's smirk got bigger as she replied.

"Why you smirking?" the eraser growled.

"Oh, just, because my friend who lost her invitation to the party finally arrived." The erasers looked stunned and confused. The one on the left turned and his eyes grew wide, but before he could warn his buddy, I punched him in the face. I felt a warm sticky liquid gush out of his nose and onto my hand. Blood. The eraser fell to the ground. I saw that Sam tackled the one on the right and she knocked him out with quick light punches to his pressure points. I wiped my bloody hand on the lab coat.

"What took you so long Max? In case you forgot we are on a time schedule." I knew she wasn't really upset just a little annoyed the plan is going exactly as planned.

"Chill, I didn't know which room you were in, so I had to look in her other rooms in the hallway. I found two other girls from the school that are going to escape with us. Ok?"

"Fine."

We walked out the room and ran toward the stairs where I told Maya and Luna to hide. When we got to the steps Maya and Luna emerged from behind boxes.

"Ok guys this is Sam. We created a plan before hand, so we can destroy the school. We are going to have to split up into two groups. The groups will be Maya and I, while Sam and Luna are together. Maya and I will go and set off all of the fire alarms and start a fire in center of the school, so nothing will be left untouched by the fire. Once the first alarm is raised Sam and Luna will go through this exit door. You can't go before the first fire alarm, because the exit door has its own alarm. They won't be able to tell the difference between the two alarms though, so that's why it's crucial you go after. There is some great stuff outside, from which we can make bombs. Sam is an expert in this craft, so it should be fairly easy. Once they are done they are going to place them around the school, because as soon as they mix with fire they will blow up." Sam finished the rest of the plan.

"The fire alarm will act as a good cover for us, because all white coats and erasers will go into panic. They will try to save the valuable experiments that are locked in cages. This is good, because the experiments won't just die in the fire and some of them may take this as a chance to escape. Also, if the white coats go and see are rooms are empty they'll assume someone else already got us out. That should leave us about two hours before they find out we've escaped or they'll assume we are dead. Hopefully they'll assume that."

"Ok." Maya replied.

"I agree, it sounds like a good plan, but what is our rendezvous spot, just in case we all get separated?" Luna asked.

"It's about fifteen miles away. When you look at the horizon you should be able to see a large mountain with a water fall. Near the base of the mountain there is a meadow and the rendezvous spot is a cave along the outskirts. You'll have to go through woods, because it's a good cover in case anyone if following you." I replied smoothly. I already knew the geography of the forest, but Sam and I hadn't picked a rendezvous spot in advance. Deciding to take Luna has ended up being a good idea, because of her strategic thinking.

"Ok let's go. No more explaining. We have a School to destroy!" Sam anxiously replied.

Maya and I hurried up the flight of stairs to another level. The hallways that were now deserted would be soon filled with chaos. The fire alarm was on a wall near a stack of boxes. I grabbed the handle and pulled down hard. A blazing siren and light went off in the hallway while the water sprinklers turned on. Maya and I hid behind a few boxes that we're pressed against the wall, just as a flurry of white coats and erasers emerged from their rooms. The white coats frantically shouted orders to the others about save the paperwork or save the experiments. I gave the white coats time to run down the hall before I lit the place up.

"Maya I'm going to make a void in the center of the flames. No white coats will see us while we are surrounded by them and they will most likely go in the opposite direction of us. When I open up the flames you must quickly scavenge the room that we are in and grab all the files about us, the Schools and their plans. It should be in one drawer that is locked. I can melt the lock, but you must be quick about your timing. Holding back fire is not an easy task when it has a chance to grow so large. It wants a power of its own beyond my control, but that will not happen if we are careful."

"You sound like you're saying fire is a living thing," Maya chuckles.

"It lives, consumes, thrives, grows, it wants control and it destroys. Doesn't that sound a lot like what humans have been doing?" As soon as that sentence slipped I thought wow that was deep… where did that come from? I didn't actually know what I was saying until I said it. I dismissed that thought though, because at this moment I had no time for wondering.

I placed my hands together like before and a new tingly sensation spread throughout my body. I thought about warmth and flames rising high off the ground and next thing I know Maya and I are in the center of flames. It is as if we are in a small safe haven traveling through the inferno. If I was all alone I could walk through the flames and it wouldn't bother me. The only energy I would have used would have been to start the fire, but now I'm using all my energy for concentration on how to keep the flames from touching Maya.

I spot the sign Data Room as we're traveling through the hallway.

"Here it is Maya. Get ready," my teeth are clenched as I grunt the orders out. I don't dare break the focus I have right now or the flames would consume Maya's life in a matter of seconds.

I turn towards the room which has already become engulfed by flames. My hands still together come up and then separate slowly as if pushing an unforeseen force back. The flames become walls on both sides and there was a small path for Maya to get through. She ran in and in a few seconds shouted,

"Here it is. Here's the cabinet!" she pointed to a black metal cabinet.

I lowered my right hand to my mouth and blew. A flame shot out heading straight for the lock and within seconds it was melted. Maya opened the cabinet door and started shuffling through the files. She grabbed at two-thirds of the folders and clenched them tightly between her hands. She then scurried to me and asked,

"I got your folder along with Sam, Luna, other experiments and my own. Along with that I got a map of the landscape. Papers on new hybrids they want to create and other things that looked important. Is that enough? I did a quick sweep through it, but-"

"Maya it's fine," I snapped. I know I shouldn't be quick-tempered right now. "Sam and Luna most likely set up the bombs by now and I can't control the explosions when they go off. Eventually the fire will reach them and by then we need to be out of here."

She nodded, understanding why I was being skittish.

"Now to get out of here is going to be simple. By now the school has established outside, so we can't exit out of the side door that Sam and Luna escaped from. We need to find a window that we can fly out of, so it needs to be high out off the ground. "

"Ok then, let's go." We were on the second floor, so to get high enough to fly would be at least three more levels. We rushed up the stairs, Maya tripping every once and a while. She had no shoes, had the stack of papers in her arms, and she hadn't walked for a whole week (that was the point of the cage she was in before.) When we got to the fifth floor Maya forehead was dripping sweat and she was swallowing hard, but did not utter a single complaint.

Smoke billowed out of the room we entered. This was a great cover. Instead of fumbling with the windows lock, I grabbed a metal pole and smashed the window. Glass shards flew everywhere. One hit my left cheek cutting right under my eye.

"Maya you can go first. Follow the smoke up into the high sky until you're high enough that no one else can see you. I'll jump out right after."

"Ok," she wheezed. All this smoke was affecting her breathing. We both crawled through the window onto the roof. Once we were near the ledge and her wings were expanded I pushed her off and got ready to follow her. I heard a small explosion from below my feet.

I got a running start and jumped in to the sea of black smoke.

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><p><strong>Please let me know what you think. The reviews are really helpful and encouraging.<strong>

**In case you didn't notice, I gave a hint to Max's new power.**

**-The Jade Empress**


	5. Freedom

**Hi. It's The Jade Empress. Thank you for all the reviews I got this week.**

**Enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Maximum Ride. James Patterson does**

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><p>Max's P.O.V<p>

My wings were open from the moment I had jumped. I started out awkwardly, but who could blame me. Having not flown for two years my awkwardness is reasonable. Once I got a steady pace, the only thing that was left was smooth sailing up into the clouds. I flew up through the smoke trying not to inhale too much of it, but it did serve its purpose- to conceal our escape. I felt my adrenaline kick in as I was flying and my body sub-consciously went into hyper drive.

Within mere seconds I had passed Maya and was in the puffy white clouds. I felt drunk on my new freedom, but of course something had to ruin my parade. Maya came through the clouds, her eyes were red from the smoke.

"I'm sorry," her voice was coarse and jagged.

"Sorry about what?"

Then a thought dawned on me. What if she lost the files on us? I didn't see them in her hands. It would be real bad if she lost them while flying. Really bad.

"Maya did you lose the files?"

"No. I didn't, they are right here tucked under my arm." I let out a sigh as she pulled them out from her arm. "But when I was flying I went slightly off track and one of my wings was on the outside of the smoke barrier. I think they might have seen me. The plan was ruined and it's my fault." Her head drooped in disappointment, tears threatening to fall.

"The white coats really lowered your self-confidence while you were in there." Her head snapped up, but it didn't look like she was going to do anything. "I mean everyone makes mistakes, even I do. Yet I'm not just going to give up. I know that wasn't part of the plan, but c'mon did you expect everything to go perfectly? We can hope, wish and dream for it to be, but that's not going to make it any better. I get that you're trying to be nice or make the situation better by taking the blame, but what would help is if you stopped making it seem like the end of the world. All you did was a small mistake, so suck it up."

My tone wasn't mean, but it was urgent.

I know this may be harsh, but it's what I had to do. I can't have a delicate flower traveling with me all the time. They'll just blame everything on themselves and be unhappy. I know some people wouldn't use my methods, but they've worked before.

"Maya, once when I was younger I had been sparring with F-someone. On accident he broke my arm and I hadn't been able to use it for three days. I know he was worried and felt guilty, but after a few weeks he still wouldn't fight me. He couldn't get over the fact that it was a mistake until I confronted him and said to his face, get over it."

Maya is not the person who tricked my flock years ago, because she would have been yelling at me as soon as I said something rude about her confidence. I wasn't saying that she was weak either; just that she needs to get over this little stage. I could just tell from her mind that she was broken from her experiences. Voices of past things said to her were going through her mind.

"**You'll never be good enough."**

"**You're just a clone, you don't deserve to live."**

"**You failed? You're a worthless experiment. We gave you less testing then the other mutants to keep you in perfect health, but when you go and face of the real Max you blow it? Is this a joke to you? It's entirely your fault. Our plan has failed, because of you, disgusting creature."**

"**This experiment is no longer needed slate her for extermination after you put her in that dog crate."**

All of these words that were once spoken to her flew across her mind, the worst comment being the last. I could feel her pain and I softened a little.

"Maya, I know you've gone through a lot of pain, but I need you to understand that out here a mistake is a mistake. In these kinds of plans not everything will go perfectly, but if something does go wrong I don't want you to just blame yourself. Ok?"

Her eyes widened when she remembered that I could read her thoughts.

"Ok, I'll try." Maya muttered.

"Good. Now follow me. We need to get into the forest, so we have cover and an awesome view for the fireworks." I gave her a mischievous grin.

We flew off towards the edge of the forest and landed in a tree. We settled in the top canopy and turned towards the direction of the School. We could still make out its shape, but we were far enough that we could hear and see the explosion, but we wouldn't get hurt. After a few minutes of sitting in silence I saw the first bomb erupt, flames surged upwards into the golden sky. I could hear the roaring of the bomb from where I sat. The first bomb seemed to trigger the rest and they sent ash, debris and smoke into the sky.

I began to crawl down the tree looking for a nice thick branch to sit on. My ears stopped ringing after a few minutes and I faced Maya.

"Well that was a great closing for our escape." Maya just looked at me and then she started cracking up. "What? It really was and you can't question that." She put a hand over her mouth and tried to muffle her laughter.

"No. I'm not laughing at what you said. It's just that now I feel… drunk at the thought of freedom. I can fly when I want and don't have to test anymore. Thanks to you I am free and the people who once took that away have just had a major setback."

"That's great, but Maya now that you are free, you have a choice to make."

"Oh, what is it?"

"You can help Sam and I destroy other Schools or leave. I know you just got your freedom and coming with us might take it away again, so I'm giving you a choice. You don't have to answer now though, I'll give you time to think it over. We will discuss this when we meet the others at the rendezvous point, so you'll have plenty of time." I started to climb down to the forest floor.

"Wait Max."

"Yeah?"

"I just wanted to say thank you for bringing me along...even though I'm your… c-"

"You're welcome and no one deserves to be stuck in there." This time Maya smiles at me, a true full blown smile. "Now let's get down and begin walking towards the cave. The School probably has scouters in the air, so for now we will stay low to the ground."

Maya nodded. We climbed down the rest of the way taking a load of time, because our dressing gowns kept getting snagged in branches.

Great, ran through my mind as a thought popped into my head. My coat and Maya's dress were both a bright white. At least I had sneakers on, but I still had to improvise or we'd be easily spotted from above. I was still about 20 feet off the ground and I decided to jump instead of climbing. When I hit the ground my shoes began to sink into the thick mud and it made a little gurgling sound.

"Gross. You want me to walk in THAT barefooted for about what? About 15 miles?"

"Maya keep your voice down. Can't you see that this is perfect?" Confusion was etched across her face until she realized what I meant.

"No. You don't expect me to roll in this stuff. " She replied disgust in her eyes.

"You're doing it unless you want to be caught."

She gave me a loud groan. Ten minutes later after much convincing and a little bit of fun, we were covered from head to toe in mud. I had to promise her that she could be the first to take a bath in the water below the waterfall. Even though she's my clone, she can be **very** different from me in personality. I mean I know she can be sarcastic and rude (just like me,) but having a problem with mud? I mean come on.

We had been walking for about three hours and had covered ten miles when the sun began to fade and our shadows loomed before us. I guessed it was about 7:00, so it was time to take a breather.

"Ok we're going to get some rest until tomorrow morning. We are not going to sleep in, because we do have to keep on moving."

"Thank God. I hate to sound weak and whinny, but I've been stuck in that cage for about a week with barely any food and I'm so tired." She stated as we climbed up into different trees. The trees were separate from each other, but close enough. If something happened we could still get to each other.

"Don't worry. We are all were under fed, so I can understand if you're tired. I think we should have a watch though. I'll go first for about…" Maya was already sound asleep, lightly snoring. I found a nice place to sit that was level with Maya. Wispy branches hung in front of the crotch of the tree. The wind began to pick up and made the temperature drop a little. Good thing I took the white coat's lab coat. It gives a small line of protection.

I watched Maya for a while studying her facial features. I felt like I was looking in a mirror, but I did notice a few slight differences. For instance, Maya's hair is the type people would consider dirty blond. My hair is light brown with blond highlights, which are from all the time I spent out in the sun. Also, my skin is more tanned. I might have been at the school, but I did go into the arena, which had sunlight. Maya's skin was pale like a porcelain doll, which makes sense, because she has been stuck in the School with no daylight at all. Not many people would have been able to guess who was who unless they really knew us.

A faint glow was cascading across my skin. I looked up and saw the full moon white and pearly for the first time in two years. It was beautiful the way it glowed and how it directed people even in the darkest night. I take a deep breath inhaling the chilled air. My body begins to relax as it is showered in moonlight. I can feel the power I gain from the night time moon. The moon gives me more power when controlling water, while for fire I can draw power from the sun.

I snapped ten healthy leaves off a branch and place my hands over them. I close my eyes in concentration and think of the moon and its push and pull. I was trying to draw water out of the leaves. Soon I felt a cold sensation in my hands. I open it up and inside was a small amount of water. With my full concentration I raise my hand and the water stays in mid-air. After a minute it began to glow and was a soothing temperature. I raised the water and the water flowed to the cut located under my left eye. A few seconds later the water dissolved and my cut was gone.

I let out a small sigh as the warmth left my fingers. I gazed at the moon once more, staring in awe, but of course leaves rustled below and ruined the moment. My gaze drifted down towards the bush. It shuffled more and I saw two pairs of eyes. One pair was blue, while the other was a brown or some kind of hazel.

"Shhhh. Stop making so much noise," a voice commanded quietly.

"I would if I could see in the dark. Not everyone has night vision," the other figure retorted. I could tell they were both girls, but this one's voice seemed to be younger than the first.

"Stop being immature."

"Whatever."

"Just…let's go. If we don't I'll lose their scent and they did I good job hiding it."

"Ok, lead the way kitty cat."

As quickly as they came, they left. Once I was confident they were gone, I got up and jumped into Maya's tree. I shook her shoulder gently.

"Maya wake up." She gave a light moan in protest. "Don't make me push you out of the tree. I mean it." At first she didn't react, but after a few more minutes of prodding she got up.

"Wah?" She asked as she rubbed her eye.

"It's time for your watching time, so you have to wake up." Maya nodded sleepily, so I turned around and jumped into my tree.

I nestled into the crotch of the tree and closed my eyes. I must admit, though my eyes were closed my mind stayed alert.

Who were those girls? Were they escaped experiments from the school? Were they looking for us? Who else is out there?

This is going to be a long night.

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><p><strong>I really think that this chapter shows Max's acceptance for Maya as an individual. Also, I like her character more, because she's not snobby and trying to out do Max. She's different in her own way and fine with it. What do you think? Do you hate Maya so far or think she's as a person, not a clone?<strong>

**Thank you to everyone who has left a review to my story. They are really suppotive and encouraging. They inspire me to write more. **

**REVIEW!**

**-The Jade Empress**


	6. Fated

**_Hi Guys! I love that I got all of your reviews. I have something important to tell you. There will be an author's note at the bottom to explain it all. _**

**_Also, I wanted to reply to someone with ideas. I don't have any other way to contact you, so here's my answer to your review. Don't worry Max IS going to meet up with the Flock and it won't be pretty. I should re-introduce them in about... 5 chapters. I know it may sound long, but I have to set up the story a little bit more. There are two more characters I still need to introduce and I have to set up Max's relationship with her new group. Lastly, I would like to thank you for complimenting my story._**

**_Now on with the story._**

**_DISCLAIMER: I do not own Maximum Ride. James Patterson does._**

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><p>Max's P.O.V (in a different form)<p>

"_Go! It's getting closer by the second. You don't have to wait for me, I'm right behind you." A female Snake shouted at me._

_I was a flying through the woods. Twisting and turning around obstacles that suddenly appeared in my path. I could hear the Snake's quick slithering behind me, but every now and then I had to look back just to make sure she hadn't disappeared. _

_At first I was only running with this one snake. She seemed to be following me in these woods that I didn't know how to navigate through. Then I turn around once more to find myself faced with eight new eyes. I didn't know when they came or how they appeared, but they hadn't startled me. Maybe they had always been there or joined the Snake and I while I wasn't paying attention. These new eyes belonged to different animals. _

_My followers were the Snake, an Eagle, a Cat, a Jellyfish, and some type of Moth. Strangely enough the Jellyfish was just floating along with us. It wasn't in a body of water, but didn't have a problem following me. _

_I felt a tugging sensation in the pit of my stomach while I flew. I went into an: out of the body/third person perspective. _

_I saw the group of animals racing through an endless forest. In the front of the group was a small falcon. _

_I tore my eyes away from the group to find the source that had made these animals flee. Closing in behind them was a wall of fire. I couldn't feel or hear the heat or the flames. The wall was consuming the trees and billowed smoke. The flames raged onward through the forest. It was destroying everything in its path._

_The tugging sensation returned shortly after I pinpointed the source of danger. I found myself back inside the falcon's body._

"_Where are we going?" The Jellyfish asked me. We had stopped running cornered at the edge of a cliff. The jump was at least twenty feet down. I hesitated to answer. It didn't seem possible to get away without jumping, but that option led to injuries. _

"_I'm afraid we have to jump."_

_By now the flames had caught up to us. The flames were slowly closing in. These flames were once small, but now had become an inferno from Hell. It was playing cat and mouse. The fire had full control of our lives, but was testing to see how far we would or could go on._

_A small flare of fire shot out of the flames and hit my wing. The tips of six of my primary feathers got hit by the flare. Those six feathers began to burn against my skin. It was so painful. I teetered in the air as my feathers were burning. I knocked into others. _

_This sent my followers tumbling to the ground off the edge. I fell through air unable to fly, which is silly. Only six feathers had been burnt. Can that many feathers impact my flight so greatly? _

_Tree branches hit my back and scratched my face. I closed my eyes tight and bit my bottom lip to keep from screaming. Suddenly I hit the ground with a sudden_

_THUMP!_

_Then I heard groans of pains from the others. We had survived. I looked at the group sprawled out along the floor._

"_Help," I whipped around and the Snake was surrounded by flames. They tangled all around her and then collapsed on top of her. I heard her screams ripple throughout the forest and then she was…silent._

"_I'm fading. Don't let me go. Please help me." A panicked voice raised behind me. I turned to see the Moth disappearing. It's once jade green wings dissolved until they were no longer there. The pleading eyes were left there, not helped._

_The remainder of my group was the Eagle, Cat and Jellyfish, but in some way they were all injured. I looked back at my wing for burn marks._

_None._

_There was no trace of my feathers ever being burnt. Instead the feathers seemed to be left unscathed._

"_Why did you let this happen?" My head snapped up. I saw the eagle disappear._

"_I trusted you." The Cat disappeared_

"_I thought you were going to protect us." The Jellyfish disappeared and my heart broke. _

_Soon a new pain laced into my wing. Some invisible force was plucking out my feathers. Once more the six feathers were the target. They fell to the ground and dissolved before my eyes._

_I tried to move, but my legs were stuck. The ground was like quicksand. I was slowly losing height and soon I was covered up to my neck. I don't know where the lower half of my body was in the ground, but I do know that it made my feathers prickle. My breathing became labored shortly after, because my chest could not rise or fall. The world was blurry and my head became completely submerged._

_I could see much, but I could feel the darkness that surrounded me. Red eyes flared in the darkness. Chills rippled on my skin. I heard shrieks and cry from agonizing torture. I sensed the evil spirits around me knowing they would try to break me. Something wet and slimy crawled up my leg. It slowly made its way up to my arms making me shiver. I tried to rip it off my body to free myself, but I couldn't no matter how hard I tried. _

"_**This is your talent, MAXIMUM. It is a gift and a curse. You know what people want to know and what they don't when they find out. You may fail them all, but save the unknown in the end."**_

_The Voice echoed in my ear. While I was puzzled I felt something sharp hit my cheek. Not hard enough to send pain throughout my head, but enough to get me focused._

"_**Goodbye for now. I hope to see you soon."**__ It laughed and then something tugged on me. _

I was pulled out of the darkness and into a blinding light. I saw a figure hovering over me with their hand hovering right in front of my face.

"**Good luck… you'll need it." **The Voice whispered. Slowly its laughter faded away.

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><p><strong>I hope this chapter gave more than a hint towards Max's new power, but if you couldn't guess what it was here's the answer. She has visions. <strong>

**Duh.**

**I thought this was a good power for Max, because it's not something she can have control of. It just happens whenever and wherever. It will give her an advantage when it comes to the "bigger picture," but won't make her a complete Mary Sue. Also, if you noticed Max's visions don't come straight out and show her what's going to happen. Instead she'll have to decipher them. **

**Previously, I gave a hint to the power. Were you correct? What do you think about this power? I'd like to hear some thoughts about how I can incorporate it more in the plot. Also, what do you think her vision meant? I would like to see how many of you can guess it correctly.**

**Ok, so at the beginning I said I had something important to tell you guys. Today I am leaving for vacation. I will be gone for all of next week and I won't be able to update. That's the bad part, but there is a good part. While I'm away I'll be able to write,( just not post) so hopefully when I get back I'll update with two chapters. Sorry about the iffiness about the chapters, but it is a family vactation and I am obliged to participate. **

**Please review. I love to hear your thoughts and opinions on my story.**

**-The Jade Empress**

**PLEASE REVIEW**


	7. Rendezvous

**I have 51 reviews. That's...amazing! Thank you so much.**

**Now here's the important stuff. I'm back, so today is the first update of THIS week. The second chapter for this week will be posted on Friday just like I promised, two chapters.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Maximum Ride. James Patterson does**

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><p><em>Flash back:<em>

_I was pulled out of the darkness and into a blinding light. I saw a figure hovering over me with their hand hovering right in front of my face._

"_**Good luck… you'll need it." **__The Voice whispered. Slowly its laughter faded away._

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><p>At first when I saw the figure hovering over me I blinked in confusion and instinctually shifted backwards. My back was pressed against the tree bark and I squinted at the figure, my eyes were still adjusting to the sunlight.<p>

"Don't worry Max it's just me, Maya." Her soothing voice seemed to awake me from my morning trance.

"Oh…" I replied stupidly.

"You were muttering things a little loudly, while you were sleeping. I decided to wake you up before you drew any unwanted attention."

"What was I saying?"

"Oh well what you were saying was incoherent. Next time you should try enunciating."

"It's good to see you're back to your usual self."

"It's great to be back." Maya says with lots of enthusiasm. Then her light voice changed into a serious tone. "What were you dreaming about? I couldn't tell what you were saying, but you looked… desperate and scared. Was it really that bad? What did you dream about?"

"Oh, it was just… a stressful sleep and I can't really recall it. I feel like it's crucial that we get to Sam and Luna soon, so I bet that's what I dreamed about."

I wasn't confident about telling Maya yet. This dream felt so real and vivid. I felt like it was too personal to tell Maya about. I mean I would trust her in battle, but this dream was very different. I had an idea of what the dream could mean, but still wanted to run my theory by Sam.

"We have about five miles until we reach the rendezvous spot. If we walk we it will take about an hour and a half, but there is another option. We could fly. I don't hear any more search planes or anything near us. Also, if we do fly we can go above the clouds. If my math is correct we should take about twenty-five minutes."

"I guess we should fly. I want to get more practice. What do you think?"

"Yeah, flying sounds good as long as we stay hidden. Also, I kind of want to get there before Sam, so we can say we can have winning rights."

"Alright."

Maya and I got down from the tree we were sitting in. Our location wouldn't allow us to take flight. The forest surrounding us created a leafy barrier that was too thick to get through. We scaled the forest floor for a tree that was suitable for us to launch out of.

When we were walking around on the forest floor we looked for any opportunities the trees could give us.

Finally, I spotted two trees that were perfect for us. One had fallen onto the other and had been entirely uprooted. The other tree (a Sycamore tree) was bare on the bottom, but had sturdy branches at the top. Luckily, the angle of the fallen tree was perfect for us to climb on.

"Over here Maya," I semi-whispered.

We approached the base of the tree and cautiously climbed upwards. At the intersection of the trees a branch hung ten feet above my head.

I steadied myself for a moment and sped forward lunging toward the tree. My feet hit the bark of the Sycamore and I push off even though my muscle protested this action. I did a backwards flip and as I turned my legs shot up catching the branch with my feet. I let my arms fall down past my head and hang down for Maya to grab. Maya grabbed my hands and I pulled her up onto the branch.

Now we were above the leafy canopy and could launch off. I dove down. My body surged downwards and my hair whipped behind me. Right before I hit the canopy I unfurled my wings, which allowed me to sail over the trees. I began flapping my wings ever so gracefully and I rose in altitude quickly.

Over the wind I heard choppy flapping and knew Maya was following.

**-TIME BREAK (of twenty minutes) -**

Finally I spotted it. It was one of the few small patches of open field in the whole forest. I nodded in Maya's direction. We both tucked in our wings and dove down. Diving at supersonic speeds feels breathtaking, because of the adrenaline rush.

Before we crashed into the ground I flung my wings out and flipped in the air. My feet hit the ground with a light thump. On the other hand, Maya tumbled onto the ground, head over feet.

"Ouch. How'd you land so perfectly?" I gave her my hand and pulled her up.

"I just had a lot of practice..." I trailed off. The memories of the flock hit me. Flying is my strongest and weakest link. It's what I'm best at and it helps me clear my mind, but it also reminded me of the past.

"Hello? Max, are you ok?" Maya asked, concern laced in her words.

"Yeah, I'm just remembering something. Let's get going, the cave is close to the base of the mountain."

We trekked through the dead field. It was wide open, but we wouldn't be seen from above. The golden grass came up to our shoulders covering our bodies and from a bird eye view our hair blended in with the brush. The sun was right over our heads and beating down on our backs.

After the clearing we were happily back in the woods. We trudged on without out much conversation. Before we got to close to our meeting spot I heard the gushing of water. This made the corners of my lips twitch, but still I didn't smile.

I haven't even come close to smiling for so long. The last time I actually remember showing true emotion was more than a year ago.

Finally, the waterfall came into view. Maya's pace immediately changed from a walk into a full out sprint. Right before she hit the water she jumped into the air and dived into the water gracefully. I followed her lead and plunged into the pool. As cold as it was, the water was refreshing. I swam around under water and saw groups of fish dart away from me.

Now the best part of this experience was that I didn't have to come up at all for air and apparently it was the same for Maya. We could have stayed under for the rest of the day sleeping, talking and swimming, but of course I didn't have that luxury.

Instead, in the water I washed mud off my clothes, body and hair. Then I went to the waterfall and greedily drank the fresh water. Once we were clean, we had to get out of the water. We could have used a fire to dry off, but let's see… I'm not stupid. Starting a fire is the worst thing we could have done in this situation. It sends out a signal basically saying "come and get us" to the remaining white coats, so we had to settle for manually drying with help from the sun.

"Alright Maya, now that we're clean, let me show you the cave."

"Lead on."

Maya basically walked past the cave which was concealed with leaves, rocks and roots. The cave was in the side of the mountain. It wasn't too high, but we still had to fly up to it. The mouth of the cave was narrow, but it led to a wide cavern, that could easily fit four people. The good thing is that the entrance was hidden and if any one attacks only a few people can enter at a time.

"Now that you know where the cave is we should find some food."

"Where in the world are we going to get food? There is nothing for at least a one hundred mile radius. We are isolated in…in…" She stumbled for the location.

"A forest in Maine," I replied filling in the gap.

"We are isolated in a forest in Maine."

"Yes, I know that Maya, and about the food, we are going to have to hunt it." I waited to see her reaction about hunting.

"HUNT? Well that's just great." Maya complained sarcastically, while she threw her hands in the air.

"Yep, it is. Don't worry in my opinion squirrels taste just like chicken. You can't even tell the difference." I rolled my eyes and just strolled out of the cave and stopped at the ledge. I heard her sigh and her feet light tread towards me. Without looking back I jumped into the air and began searching the ground for any movement. If I didn't have raptor vision this would be impossible.

"What are we doing" Maya shouted over the wind.

"Shhhh. I'm looking for any movement, but they're all hiding in their homes, because it's mid-day."

"Oh… why don't we try the pool under the waterfall? I saw a bunch of fish there. Maybe we can eat those."

"Smart, but I guess you just saying this, because you want to get out of eating squirrel." I said this as a joke, but pink appeared on her cheeks. That girl really doesn't want to eat squirrel.

We flew down towards the water and landed a few feet away. I picked up a pointy stick that was sturdy and walked over to the pool. The sun was directly overhead, so I didn't have to worry about my shadow showing on the water. I waited until I saw a fish dart out of the seaweed. It was fast, but I was faster. My hand shot out with the stick in hand aiming a little lower than the fish actually appeared to be. It was a direct hit.

Once it was immobile I took it out of the water and placed it on a rock to dry. By dusk Maya and I had caught at total of four plump fish. I filleted the fish using a sharp stone.

"Time for a fire," I murmured to myself.

I clapped my hands together and slowly pulled my hands out. Flames slithered between my hands creating an orb of fire. It hovered two feet above the ground and warmed my fingertips. The orb seemed to expand and contract on its own, but stayed at reasonable in size.

The smoke that drafted through the air was unnoticeable. The skies blazing colors helped the smoke stay concealed for now. We both skewered each of the fish and held them above the fire.

After the next hour Maya was overcome by exhaustion. She was curled up, lightly snoring onthe cave floor. I was taking the first night watch. Night had fallen and I was extremely bored. I decided to practice a difficult technique. I changed the orbs form into different figures. I started simple with shapes like square, triangles and circles. Then I moved onto columns of fire and changing its color. At the end of practice I decided to create the fastest bird in the world, the Peregrine Falcon.

I was practicing on the cliff outside of the cage. The fire bird fluttered around me its flames dancing in the breeze. The strange thing about this falcon was that its color was immutable. I had no control over its coloration. It wasn't orange or red like a fire. It was gold, glowing and radiated warmth

"Guide them to me." I commanded ever so softly.

The birds form flickered as if replying to me. It flapped its flaming wings and rose in altitude, higher than the clouds. A few seconds after I lost the falcon from sight I saw a blur of light dive from the sky. It entered the dark ominous woods and then disappeared.

I sat down in the mouth of the cave and waited for my messenger to return. I must have dozed off, but a surge of light awoke me. I rubbed my eyes and saw that the golden falcon had appeared in front of me. It gave a faint screech and out of its body erupted more flames. The bird disappeared starting at the bottom working its way up. All that was left were wisps of smoke, which were quickly swept away by the wind. I was left in complete darkness.

I clicked my fingers together and created light flames in the palm of my hand. Quickly I scrambled up and rushed to the ledge. I saw two figures below, both with green eyes.

"Took you long enough," I called down.

"It takes skill. You're just jealous." Sam called up.

"**Maya they're her. Wake up." **I heard scurrying and she emerged from the cave. She was rubbing her watery eyes.

"I'm here," she yawned.

"Could it be any higher?" Sam retorted. In response I spread my wings and flew towards her. Sam put her hands in the air and I grabbed them. Before I could drop any lower I gave five powerful flaps and we rose up into the sky. I expanded my wings to their full highs and we soared into the cave.

"Happy now?" I asked.

"Yep, I'm purrrfect," she chuckled.

I turned around to go grab Luna, but she was right behind me. In the fire light I saw her folding in big, but thin paper like wings. They were green colored just like her eyes and had random white and yellow splotches. They looked like butterfly wings, graceful and elegant, but seemed to lightly glow in the dark. I snapped out of my trance and beckoned everyone into the cave.

"Now that we are finally here we have an important matter to discuss." Sam started off as we sat down. She nodded her head towards me to do the explaining.

"Ok, so yesterday was a very important day. We escaped from the School. It was a success, because not only did we escape, we destroyed the School. Sam and I have been planning this for so long time, but this is just the beginning stages. We've decided we wanted to rid the world of the unjustly existence of the Schools. It may sound impossible, dangerous, reckless or maybe even stupid, but it's the only solution for us. We are giving you the option of coming with us." I let Sam continue.

"I've been stuck in this school for over two years and never before have I been free. I know how you two probably feel about freedom. You don't want to give it up and we honor that decision, but think about where we are coming from. The School will try to hunt Max down, because they know that she controls fire. They know that she couldn't have died in that explosion. The important piece is that they don't know about us and that's to our advantage." Sam stopped and turned to me with a pained expression. She wanted me to continue.

"They'll only spend a little time searching for those who are unknown, but what I want you to think about is what will happen after a month of no success. They'll go kidnap other innocent kids and hurt them like they did to us. It's better if we end this cruelty before it becomes unstoppable. Destroy it before it's out of our control."

"It's your decision though, we won't decide for you. You have a voice in this wor-"

"I'm in," Maya stated most emphatically. "You helped me escape and it's the least I could do."

"Same. You guys seem like you have a plan and I want to be involved with the destruction of the Schools." Luna's eyes looked hungry for revenge.

"Awesome. This is a cool group, even though it's a small group. I can sense that we're powerful and I believe if we work together **massive destruction** can be accomplished." Sam emphasized "massive destruction."

"Same. I wish we had a couple more people though, but what we have is a good start. Now, I think it's important that we get to know the basi-"

I heard shuffling behind us. All of us snapped up into an offensive position looking for the source of the sound. Two figures emerged from the shadows of the cave and into the firelight.

"I believe we can be of some assistance."

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><p><strong>Like before thank you for reviewing. I would love if you told me you opinion of this story.<strong>

**I create this chapter while on vacation and it was really loud, noisy and crazy. If I have a lot of spelling mistakes or this chapter doesn't make sense please let me know in a review. I'll edit it more once I finish the next chapter.**

**-The Jade Empress**

**Please review**


	8. Recruits

**Hey thank you for all of the reviews. In the Authors Note at the end their will some kind of creativivty competition thing.**

**Now here is the second part to this week!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Maximum Ride. James Patterson does**

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><p><em>Flashback:<em>

"_I'm in," Maya stated most emphatically. "You helped me escape and it's the least I could do."_

"_Same. You guys seem like you have a plan and I want to be involved with the destruction of the Schools." Luna's eyes looked hungry for revenge._

"_Awesome. This is a cool group, even though it's a small group. I can sense that we're powerful and I know if we work together __**massive destruction**__ can be accomplished." Sam emphasized "massive destruction." _

"_Same. I wish we had a couple more people though, but what we have is a good start. Now, I think it's important that we get to know the -"_

_I heard shuffling behind us. All of us snapped up into an defensive position looking for the source of the sound. Two figures emerged from the shadows of the cave and into the firelight._

"_I believe we can be of some assistance."_

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><p>My glare immediately went to the girl who had spoken. She seem like she was the one who had taken the leadership in the party of two.<p>

At the moment she looked like the bigger physical threat. She was as tall as I am, about five foot ten. Her long muscular legs and arms were obviously healthier than our own. Her auburn hair was tied in a pony-tail and her hazel eyes were watching us with precision.

"Who are you and why are you here?" I demanded.

While I waited for my response I took note of her partner. She looked tired and frail. I was able to make out that her blond hair was on the verge of white, she had porcelain like skin and eyes were a faded blue. Her iris's looked close to Iggy's color, but I could tell she wasn't blind. Instead of her eyes looking off into the distance they were focused directly on me.

"We are both experiments from the School. I am experiment 29024…" The tall auburn hair girl stated. The second girl grinned nervously next to her and squeaked.

"… and I am experiment 27037."

"We are here is, because we need help and you're the only ones who can help us. I understand that you are forming group, yes?"

"… We are," Sam replied hesitantly.

"Good. We want to join. We know nothing about the outside world and we need you guys to help us survive. We overheard that your group could use some more members. We have a lot to offer. It's a win, win situation."

My eyes narrowed in their direction. I was taken aback that this girl thought she could just waltz in here and make us agree to her suggestion so easily. The folders may contain slight information about both of them, but after that, we have no information about who they are or their motives.

"As far as I know you could be working for the School. How do we know to trust you? Isn't it a little bit suspicious that you just found us in the first place? The fire was raging and no one could have known we escaped. How did you? Also, we are about fifteen miles from the School, you could have headed in any direction and yet you found us. How you found us is what I'd like to know before we even think about letting you come with us." I replied with a voice that said it all.

Tell us the truth or else.

Surprisingly enough the blonde one stepped forward to answered.

"Well the first question I don't really know how to answer. We don't really have anything that can prove we are loyalty, but I don't really think that's something you can judge by an inanimate object. If you want to see if you can trust us you'll have to let us in first, so we can prove it to you guys. But if you really need something to prove we aren't spies (**she chuckled at this**) here's a feather."

She opened up the palm of her hand and inside was a white downy feather that had specks of gold. Maya blushed and looked away. The pale girl continued without noticing.

"I was rushed outside by a group of erasers and I saw the billowing smoke. I looked up and caught a glimpse of what seemed to be a wing and then this floated down from the sky. It's yours isn't it?" She faced Maya and handed her the feather.

"Yes, it is," Maya mumbled. She began fidgeting with it in her hand.

"Well it's very pretty and-" the first girl cut her off obviously annoyed she was off track.

"Any way, after my friend here found the feather, she decided to get away while no one was looking. Your feather gave her a glimpse of hope. I as well saw the wing from the smoke. When experiment 27037 snuck away I saw her and followed."

"She almost gave me a heart attack when I saw she was following me," the younger girl piped in.

"Well we found that both of us had the same goal. Get away from the school and survive. I used the feather to track your scent and then we found you guys today in the cave."

"But since you guys did a lot of flying, she got us lost a couple of times." Smiling at her stronger friend.

"Well they flew half the time, so it's not my fault their scent were disorganized." The older one snapped back.

I nodded at their story. It was believable and it clarified the night while we were sleeping in the tree. It was us that that they were looking for and that they were escaped experiments.

"**What do you guys think?" **Everyone took this calmly. Even Luna wasn't shocked and she didn't know about my mind projecting powers. "**I think they're story is true, because I saw them one of the nights searching for us. The story does make sense."**

"**I'm not sure if we can trust them. Who knows it can be a setup." **Luna replied after a moment of thought.

"**I think they're telling the truth, because they look so sincere about it." **Maya chimed in.

"**You know Maya there is a thing called lying." **

"**I understand that you're taking with great caution, but you don't have to mean about it." **Luna humph, but Sam continued anyway. **"I think we should let them in just as the young one said and let them prove themselves to us. If they are being genuine we have nothing to fear. If not we can send them away."**

"**I agree with Sam, but we still have to watch them. We don't have much to lose and trust is the first thing we need to establish."** As the unofficial leader of the group my voice carried some weight.

"**Fine," **Luna stiffly answered back.

"**I agree,"** Maya timidly replied.

I turned back to the newcomers and gestured to all of us.

"We have decided that you can come with us. You seem to understand the stakes already and if you are willing to make the small sacrifice we are fine with it. If you turn out to be using us or selling us out for information, we will have to force you into… leaving. Agreed?" I felt really uncomfortable with this statement, flashing back to when I was forced to leave the flock.

"Sure" the first one replied.

"Ok and thank you so much. We won't let you down," she ran up and hugged me enthusiastically. In shock I took a step back. No one's hugged me for a long time. After a few moments of adjustment, I hugged her back and remembered how great this feeling felt.

"Well we can't just call you experiment 27037 and your friend experiment 29024. Why don't you create a new name, one you'd actually like?"

"Wow no one's ever asked me about that. I have no clue what my name should be. What do you think it should be?" Her pale blue eyes looked lost and I felt bad for her. Not pity, just sadness.

Something as simple as a real name is what she's never had before. Instead she had been always called it or an experiment, just like all of us.

"I don't know. The name should mean independence and represent you. Why don't you tell us more about you self and will find something that suits you?

"Ok. Well I'm a…"

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><p><strong>I know that is cliffy, but it will be continued next week on Friday. <strong>

**Now about the competition I was talking about. I thought it would cool if you guys created a character and I would choose one or more of them. They wouldn't be introduced for a while in the story, but I need the info now so I can plan it out. Here is the outline I used and you can use.**

_**Name: **_

_**Age:**_

_**Gender:**_

_**Hybrid: **_

_**Appearance:**_

_**Personality:**_

_**Powers:**_

_**Assets:**_

_**Weaknesses:**_

_**Side (good or evil)**_

_**Ranked (how strong they are: Max is high powered):**_

**Please do it. This is a really cool opportunity. They can either help Max or she will have to face them in battle. I would like to have more evil ones so they can fight her. the hard part with the good is that they will only be in for a chapter or two, not the whole story unless I really like them. Also, if they die it's very sad.**

**-The Jade Empress**

***Please review. I'm looking for about 10 or more reviews this week.**


	9. Files

**Hey guys sorry for the wait. I got my electronics taken away from me this week and couldn't write. I wrote this chapter yesterday and edited it today, so I hope you like it. I hope it clears up any confusion if you guys had any. It will give descriptions of my new characters for the group.**

**Also, I'd like to thank you guys for all of the reviews. I got a lot of new characters that I will add on later in the story. I'm good with all the characters suggested, so you don't have to create any more. If you do I will look at it, but it most likely won't be used. Thank you.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Maximum Ride. James Patterson does.**

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><p>"<em>I don't know. The name should mean independence and represent you. Why don't you tell us more about you self and will find something that suits you?<em>

* * *

><p>"Well I'm a Jellyfish Hybrid. I'm not exactly sure what type I am, but I overheard the white coats talking about my genetics. After that I know nothing about my origin."<p>

"Oh, well I have an idea. Maya can you pass me the files we collected in the School?" I held my hand out waiting patiently, while she fumbled with them.

"Here," she handed them to me. The information was neatly collected in manila folders. Some of them were fat and bursting with papers, while others were thin, with sparse information. Out of the folders there were a few that were bulging with papers.

Mine was one of them.

At the top it was clearly marked:

**Experiment 25001- Maximum Ride**

**Restricted Access**

I quickly shuffled through all of the files and located everybody else's.

"These are the files Maya and I retrieved from the School. They have all sorts of information. Some are about future plans, whiles others contain information about experiments, about us."

I reached for the first of our folders and everyone crowded around the tittle read:

**Experiment 30013**

"That's me," Luna stated. I opened up the folder. Clipped to the first page was a picture of Luna. She was frowning and her eerie green wings were extended. There were only two extras on the first page, a head and profile shot.

**-Experiment: 30013**

**-Age: 13**

**-Gender: female**

**-Hybrid:** **Human/Luna Moth/enhanced**

**-Appearance:** **dark brown hair, bright green eyes, olive skin**

**Has big wings that are thin and a green color. Wings have random white splotches. They are roundish like a butterfly.**

**-Behavior: Hates us. Every time we get near its eyes narrow or it says a sarcastic comment. Has bitten us several times. If not in testing room it sleeps or eats. Has made a habit of not eating any food unless we are seen eating it first. Spends most of the time sleeping in cage and is very wary.**

**(Eats- anything as long as we try it before they do. Would rather starve then eat untested food.)**

**-Personality:** **keeps to self, sullen, cautious, and sarcastic. **

**-Powers:** **Can fly, healer, glows in the dark (optional,) enhanced vision (can see well in the dark, but not night vision,) strength, speed and intelligence. Can show people what they fear most (just an image though, can't do harm.)**

**-Everyday Skills/Assets: manipulation, a strategist, observant**

**-Weaknesses: Over confidence, takes too long to choose, relies on agility not as powerful as others, one hit could damage it easily. Doesn't trust easily.**

**-Likes- Sleeping, quiet, the dark, flying**

**-Dislikes/hates- erasers, scientists, the tests, color white**

**-Fears- getting hurt by others, others knowing more about her then she does, getting defeated and her consequences, any information on the night she was taken. Letting down others.**

**-History- Taken from single mother (deceased) at birth. We took her immediately from the hospital to the School in Maine and she has been there since now. Told the mother she did not make in. In response the mother was so shocked she committed suicide 2 weeks after.**

**-Strategies: very agile. After toying with opponent and weakening it, it attacks.**

**Creates a plan and then puts it to action**

**-Participation: goes in mazes. Top release of 28 roaming erasers. (Can take about 3-5 enemies at a time.) Arena fights: W-53, L-2 **

**-Testing's: Four times a week. Test reaction to poisons, mental scans, resistance to pain, DNA examination, injecting of accelerating drugs and usual ability tests**

**-Ranked: medium powered**

**-Extra facts: likes to trick others into thinking it is innocent and harmless. **

**Scientist in charge: Marc B. Eisenhower. **

**Cage B284**

I looked up from my reading and everyone's eyes settled on Luna. It was if they were asking is this true? You had to go through the same amount of pain as I did? Luna coughed uncomfortably.

"Yes, everything you just read is true."

"It explains why that scientist fell down, while backing away when we rescued you. Right?" Maya's head tilted with confusion.

"Exactly, I can make people see what they fear the most. Only they see it and feel it, but in reality it can do nothing to harm them. That scientist in the room was afraid of spiders, and he just fainted, because he was freaked out. The only thing not correct in the folder was that they excluded a power. It's not super powerful, so I guess they over looked it while testing for the others. I can walks into other people's dreams. I can give people nightmares or let them rest, while they are sleeping."

"Interesting," the pale blond replied. "And your name, it really suits you, because you are a creature of the night and a Luna Moth."

Sam coughed subtly, "Why not read the next one Max?"

The next file was titled:

**Experiments 27037**

The girl's faded eyes brightened when I read out loud her number.

"That's me!" She squealed. I opened up the folder and inside there were three pictures. Two were just a head and profile shot, while the other seemed to be a picture of the Indo-Pacific. I had no clue what the third picture had to do with her, but the file explained it all.

**-Experiment: 27037**

**-Age: 14**

**-Gender: female**

**-Hybrid: Box Jellyfish/human**

**-Appearance: blond hair that's almost white, faded blue eyes (not blind), pale skin. **

**-Behavior: waits in cage humming, knows when it's time to eat/sleep/test, goes with us to test without a fight, even though it hurts, during tests curses(a lot,) is on a time schedule, and asks a lot of questions.**

**-Personality: kind to other experiments, calm, collective, quiet, shy, sensitive, observant, bubbly person, kind of bubbly in happiness, which is strange in an experiment. **

**- Powers: breathing underwater, electrical touch that is poisonous (it can determine when it wants to be venomous: under control) (there are antidotes,) fades into background (like a chameleon, she can't be seen with ease even as she is moving, but she is visible.), enhanced: vision, flexibility, speed. Advanced: strength. Her arms can grow a little in length.**

**-Everyday Skills/Assets: observant, makes good judges, has a good temperament.**

**-Weaknesses: trusts others too quickly, is made from a creature that is mainly water, so she needs to drink water a lot (can only go 1-2 days without it.)**

**-Likes: water, light, rainbows, underwater tests**

**-dislikes/hates: fire: burns and when surrounded, claustrophobic, pollution, and needles.**

**-Fears: fire, death, being stranded and all alone.**

**-History: Was a test tube baby. She does have human DNA, but to make the two species (jellyfish and human) not resist each other in the bonding we had to add chemicals and take many cautions. Has been in a School since birth. Originally from School 1 and then came to School 4 once it was of age 8.**

**-Strategies: tries to talk the opponent before attacking them, if that doesn't work it poisons/electrocutes them with the smallest amount of poison/electricity possible. If attacked by an eraser or flyboy she doesn't care as much.**

**-Participation: Goes into mazes: top release of erasers are 32 (can handle about 4-6 at a time) arena fights W-57 L-8**

**-Testing's: 4-5 times a week in room 76B. Pain tests, ability tests, and poison/drug tests (does pretty well on these, because her own poison gives it an advantage when fighting them off.)**

**-Ranked: high **

**-Extra facts: Others than poisonous touch it is also electrical, so it is effective against flyboys and machines. Specific Jellyfish DNA used is from a Jellyfish found in the Indo-Pacific Ocean.**

**Scientist in charge: Hannah R. Schmitz**

"Wow, that's a lot of information about me. Don't you think it's creepy that they knew more about me than I did? Now that we know all this information what should my name be?" She said this in a single breath as I handed her, her folder.

"What about Jennifer?" Luna asked. "I believe it means white wave in the Celtic language. You are a Jellyfish, so that could be the wave part and the white could be representing your hair color. Also, the J is taken from Jellyfish and put into your name, so you'll never forget. What do you think?"

"That's perfect! Thank you, Jennifer's such a pretty name."

"Oh and for a nickname she can be Jenna." Maya suggested.

"That's good too, so my name is now Jennifer, but you may all call me Jenna!" She looked so exhilarated. She reminded me so much of Nudg-. I can't finish that sentence.

"Ok time for the next folder." On top it was labeled

**Experiment 29024**

**Restricted Access**

**-Experiment: 29024**

**-Age:** **15**

**-Gender: female**

**-Hybrid: Mix of cat DNA**(**main DNA,** **Mountain lion)/human**

**-Appearance: Gold hair that sparkles with orange, light/dark brown, and red in it (auburn), light brown (hazel (cat like) with hints of green) eyes, tanned skin.**

**-Behavior: A** **Joker, relaxed, but has a quick tempered, very restless at night and when in cage, lots of energy to perform tasks, enthusiast about fighting, spirited in beliefs that testing is unruly. Very cat like. Has attacked us before. Requires attention 24/7.**

**-Personality: temperament not predictable.** **Personality changes with in second from one action, very sarcastic. Doesn't like others**

**-Powers:** **retractable claws, night vision, enhanced stealthy, speed, agility, strength, sight (better than even Max's aka night vision,) duplication (only able to create five, the more there are the weaker they are,) ability to follow scents and can change into a mountain lion.**

**-Everyday Skills/Assets: Survival skills, stalking, hiding, fighting.**

**-Weaknesses: Cat instincts, doesn't always judge the situation carefully, overconfidence, in lion form a pole down the throat paralysis it.**

**-Likes: fighting, angering others (including us,) having power over others.**

**-dislikes/hates: disrespect, looking down upon, tight spaces and water**

**-Fears: swimming (being fully submerged in water,) and death**

**-History: Only living relative is Emily, her sister, who is one year older than her. Their parents sold them to us for $25,000 a child. Started in School 5 and came to School 4 for execution. Sister stayed at school 5.**

**-Strategies: mainly offensive. Loves to go straight into battle, while in battle, it does quick thinking. No planning ahead of time.**

**-Participation: RESTRICTED- rest found at School 5 with the rest of the information.**

**-Testing's: started 5-6 days a week. Went in mazes and in the arena W-86 and T-1 (Experiment 25001.) Gave it Thursday off, but once it made execution list testing was called off. Left only regular agility tests to prepare for execution.**

**-Ranked: high**

**-Extra facts: Hunter mix, but taken out.** **Was exiled from the School 5 and brought to 4 to be treated. Shunned, because she didn't fulfill duties. **_**On execution list, in two weeks.**_ **Likes to challenge authority. ****Not a liable resource. **

**-Scientist in charge: RESTRICTED.**

Everyone's eyes went straight up to the auburn haired girl. Surprisingly enough she looked calm about all of the information we just learned about her.

"What did you think I was a dandelion?" She asked sarcastically. "I was built to challenge authority and that's what I did. I was uncooperative, so they slated me for extermination. Got a problem with that? Am I to tough for you?"

"No one said that," Sam relied calmly. "It's just that from what we've read we can assume you are really powerful. There is nothing wrong with that."

"Whatever, so about my name, what should it be? I don't want to make a big deal, but I don't want to be called an experiment anymore." This time Maya thought of a name.

"What about the name Abby? It's seems like a like a cool name to have and the file said you are a mixture of different cat DNA. Also, Abby sound like tabby and a tabby is a cat with a mixture of all sort of cat DNA."

"That sounds good, not to girly."

"What about my file?" Maya asked. I grabbed her file from the stack. It was tittle:

***Experiment 25001-9**

Unlike the others this file was very small and had only the basics of the others.

**-Experiment:** ***25001-9 **

**-Age: 16 **

**-Gender: female**

**-Hybrid: clone**

**-Appearance:** **dirty blond hair, pale skin, chocolate brown eyes (looks like Maximum Ride)**

**Brown, tan, white wings that are dotted with gold.**

**-Behavior: unrecorded**

**-Personality: unrecorded**

**-Powers:** **Breathing underwater, fast flying, enhanced: vision, strength, speed, controls water and healing. **

**-Everyday Skills/Assets: Survival skills **

**-Weaknesses: unrecorded**

**-Likes: unrecorded**

**-dislikes/hates: unrecorded**

**-Fears: unrecorded**

**-History: a clone of Maximum Ride. Made from her DNA**

**-Testing's: Takes tests the first Maximum Ride took and used them for her. She is now slated for extermination, so she will stay into her cage unless she is having a regular agility test.**

**-Ranked: medium**

**-Extra facts: Failed test against Maximum Ride, so it now slated for extermination. Things that say unrecorded are unrecorded, because she is supposed to be a replica of Maximum Ride, but failed to be her replica. There is no point of recording.**

**-Scientist in charge: Jeb B., Anne W., and many others.**

I looked up at Maya's face. There were thousands of emotions some of anger, resent, and sadness.

"We all know that's not true," Maya screamed. "I am different from her in so many ways. I am not her and I will never be, Maximum Ride." She sneered at my name. "A clone may look like the original that they got the DNA from, but they aren't the same inside! LOOK AT THIS! THEY EXPECTED I WAS YOU THAT THEY DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER FILLING MY FORM OUT. THOSE SICK MINDED PEOPLE!"

I sighed at this set back, it wasn't a good idea to let her see what they had written about her, but I couldn't say no. It was her choice and I respected that.

"Maya-"

"What?" She turned to me angrily.

"They may think you are just a clone, but you're not. It doesn't matter what they think as long as you know who you are and what separates you from me. I know this may not matter, but I know you are different and are your own person. I can recognize that. Don't let the white coats bring you down, while you're free. Don't succumb to their ignorance. Biology is only half of what we are, the other half is what we choose to become. Besides that information is only what the white coats have observed about us. We are a lot more complex than those files and if you really look we go deeper than they would ever think. You know it's getting late. Why don't we put these files away and get some sleep. We'll finish them up another day."

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><p><strong>I'd like to mention that all the details you just read about the characters are not FULLY true. If you think about it, it is from a white coats perspective and who trusts a white coat. Those files are based on what they have observed, but they may be missing some important details. I'm just saying this so later on in the story your mind is open for differences between the characters and the files.<strong>

**How'd you like this chapter? Why not tell me in a review. I'm trying to get at least 100, because for chapter 8 I got 20 something reviews which made a total of 93! I'm hoping to get at least 10 this chapter.**

**Also, I have a friend named lilmissspike she is writing a story called Liar Liar. I told her I'd tell you guys about it. The caption beneath is the summery. **

**_When the flock broke into The Institute, a winged girl named Hope joined their group. Time starts to pass, and Hope's dark and secret past starts becoming revealed. NOW ACCEPTING OCS. SEE CHAPTER 4 FOR DETAILS._**

**Please check it out.**

**-The Jade Empress**


	10. Metamorphosis

**_Hey guys it's the Jade Empress. I know I'm late, again. I'm sorry for this, but I've been having some problems lately, so if I miss next Friday or something don't be mad. I will be editing this later in the week so make sure you check it out. It is about twelve pages, so I hope that makes up for the fact that it's late._**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride, James Patterson does._**

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><p><em>Flashback (the previous night)-<em>

**_"Be quiet Sam they just fell asleep. Wait don't step on Abby's hand, she won't appreciate that."_**_ I told Sam as she carefully made her way towards me without stepping on anyone._

**_"Don't worry I got it all under control," _**_she thought back. _

_Sam stopped at the opening of the cave and then looked behind herself. Three bodies were sprawled out on the cave floor. Their chests were rhythmically moving up and down in their sleep. I was on first watch, while everyone got some rest. Maya had to go vent her anger by flying and requested for her file to be burned while she was gone._

_"So what do you want?" Sam asked snapping me out of thought._

_"I just wanted to give you your folder once they were a sleep, so you wouldn't have to share any… personal information."_

_"That's a good idea, but we need to have trust in our group. They shared their own information without hesitation if we don't do the same they may stay wary of us."_

_"Then we will share tomorrow morning before anything else gets done. I'm just going to go through my file first."_

_"Ok," Sam started sifting through her papers. Her file was stuffed with papers and was as big as my own, but wasn't labeled the same. Instead it was just titled: _

**_Experiment 26012_**

_This confused me for a moment. Abby's file had said restricted on it and I bet Sam and Abby would be worthy competitors. I can't tell who would win in a match, but why didn't Sam's folder say restricted? They were evenly matched, so that meant it had something to do with Abby's past in the Schools. Questions began to form in my head. _

_Like what did Hunter Mix mean? Why was her participation list, restricted? How come she was originally from School 5 and what made her change to 4?_

_I shook my head clearing those thoughts and began to sort through my papers. Surprisingly enough I already knew half of the stuff in the folder and some was just a given. Some of the given things were my genetics. It wasn't surprising to me when I saw that I had Peregrine Falcon DNA. They are the fastest member of the animal kingdom and can reach into the about 200 miles per hour when diving. Here's the rest of my file:_

**_-Experiment: 25001 (aka Maximum Ride)_**

**_-Age: 16_**

**_-Gender: female_**

**_-Hybrid:_** **_Bird/human_** **_Peregrine Falcon (has been given drugs to enhance abilities.)_**

**_-Appearance:_** **_light brown hair with blond streaks, tanned skin, chocolate brown eyes (Brown, tan, white wings that are dotted with black and gold.) Five foot ten. _**

**_-Behavior: _**

**_Past: very protective of flock members. Would bight and snap at others. Jeb B. was in charge of watching over them. We let them have a test of living in the real world up until she was 14. Then we unsuccessfully tried to bring her back by taking the smallest of the group. Was very rude and sarcastic, looked out for the others. _**

**_Present: very quiet when by herself, anger is always in her eyes, eats and sleeps very little. Acts up and goes into dazes while in cage. Sleeps no longer then 5-6 hours unless drugged. She is sarcastic to all of us including the scientists. She complains about how are practice is inhumane._**

**_-Personality: sarcastic, caring towards the other experiments, serious, confident, and rude. (has kept the routine that was used in past Schools.)_**

**_-Powers:_** **_Breathing underwater, flying at supersonic speeds (about 400mph), enhanced: vision, speed, strength, intelligence, and hearing, creating force fields, read/control minds (level 8.5)(more on the theory on pg. 19,) controlling fire and water._**

**_-Everyday Skills/Assets: Survival Skills,_** **_quick thinking_**

**_-Weaknesses: _**

**_Past: the Flock _**

**_Present: Emotions, mental stability, broken connections, refuses to kill any experiments in the arena_**

**_-Likes: sleeping in cage, eating, flying tests_**

**_-dislikes/hates: Snakes, betrayal, erasers, reminding of past_**

**_-Fears: betrayal (proven with memory test,) holding responsibility for others deaths._**

**_-History: Mother: Dr. Valencia Martinez. Father: Jeb Batchelder. Dr. Martinez donated an egg, which we took out of her body and was later injected with avian DNA. The egg got to grow for 3 weeks outside of the body and then we place the embryo back inside the mother. Stayed in mother for 32 weeks and then came out with wings. Taken to School 2. _**

**_-J.B.'s Reports-_**

**_At first experiment 25001 struggled and was kept under constant care. By four months we were sure its health was fully stabilized. By a year and half the experiment could speak broken sentences and reached all basic human milestones. _**

**_By age five Maximum had matured quicker than a regular child. It was considered stronger, faster, and more intelligent. Max could hover in the air for no longer than a minute or two. Around halfway through year I, Jeb Batchelder introduced experiment 25002(boy) to Max. There was tension at first. During the fifth and final try to get a bond the boy bit Max in the arm. I rushed out to stop her from attacking him, but instead of getting really mad she only slapped his cheek lightly and then spoke the word Fang. Strangely enough after that day they become inseparable. Two months later we introduced the experiment 25006, Iggy. Max quickly took a likening him easily, while Fang ignored him (at first.)_**

**_When Maximum turned seven we introduced experiment 25008, Nudge, who was about 4 years old. This helped prepare Max's motherly side. She became very protective of her. At age ten we introduce experiment 25010 and 25013, Gazzy and Angel. They were a brother and sister who were about the age of 4 and 2. These kids became her family and they took care of her. I took them out of the School with the permission of the Director. It allowed them to grow on their own- continued on pg. 26-49_**

**_-Strategies: Equally uses defense and offense in a fight. She likes to use surprises when facing an opponent in battles. Theory: in the beginning of a fight she observes the others strategies and then creates a plan. Unpredictable. _**

**_-Participation: _**

**_Past: Restricted_**

**_Present: Mazes can take about 6-7 erasers or flyboys at a time. In the arena she will not kill any of the experiments on purpose. Only immobilize them or knocks them out. Has killed a few, but only when they've attack her and had no choice. W-73 T-1._**

**_-Testing's: Poison tests, drug enhancements, healing abilities, splitting of DNA, comparing tests, intellectual tests, resistance to pain, flight tests- Restricted_**

**_-Ranked: high_**

**_-Extra facts: When separated from the Flock we captured her in the woods at Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming._**

**_-Head Scientist: Jeb Batchelder and Marian Janssen (the Director of School 1.)_**

**_-Current status- Active_**

_I flipped through the rest of the files and found reports Jeb had sent in about our day by day activities while in the E-shaped house. That fueled my anger towards Jeb even further. I had been so naive and actually trusted him with my life._

_I closed my folder angrily and got up to walk to the back of the cave._

_"Max something fell out of the folder it looks like some sort of card." I turned around to see what I dropped. It was plastic and I knew I'd seen it before. I picked up the card and my eye's widened in shock. It was the same exact card I found between the bars of the metal grate in New York. I was sure of it; it even had my name on it: Maximum Ride._

**_-End of flashback-_**

"Up and at 'em," I shouted my hands cupped around my mouth.

I return I heard a chorus of groaning and cursing before they began to move.

I'm guessing I went to sleep that night around midnight, yet due to natural impulse I woke before all of them. We had been in the same forest for three days and in my opinion it was too long. We had to leave before someone caught us.

"I'm hungry Max," Jenna whined.

"Oh quit it," Abby commanded. "You're always hungry and if you hadn't noticed we all are."

"So while you guys were sleeping I did a perimeter check and found out that this forest goes on for miles. It wasn't until 30 miles give or take a few that I saw a small, secluded town. I think we should go to the town and then I'll tell you the rest of my plan when we are there. Agreed?"

I heard tired mumbles of yes's.

"I just have a few questions before we go. What gives you the right to give us orders? We never decided on a leader, so why are you the one acting in charge. What makes you so special?" Abby spat out the words fiercely. This was exactly what I didn't want to happen.

"I'd like you to know that I was just trying to help and-" I was cut off by an enraged Sam.

"First of all, you need to understand that Max is a great leader. She has all of traits needed and many years of experience. Who are you to question her? Max is the one who freed us from the School in the first place. I mean some of us contributed in our own way, but she's the one who started it all. Max gave me hope, when I had none. She's meant to be the leader."

"I agree," Luna simply stated. "If it wasn't for Max we'd be stuck in the School to face more torture. She even risked her own plans for freedom to save me."

"I have to say the same. Without her I'd be dead." What Maya said made everyone silent. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

"I need you guys to trust me. Right now fighting's not going to help. I've learned from the past that every group needs a leader, but to become a good leader you need a good team of followers. People to support the leader or else she will fall. The one in charge shouldn't control everything, it's just they should be there for the others. The leader should be the one they want to follow. I do know that I have the same goals as you guys and I have ideas on how we should take action, but only come if you want to. Sam?"

"Max, I'm sticking with you through thick and thin. Quite frankly, you can't get rid of me." I smiled in her direction.

"Maya? Luna?" Luna nodded in Maya's direction to speak.

"It's the same as before. We want go with you."

"Good. Jenna? "

"I want to come. You seem ok." Lastly I turned to Abby.

"You're the one who questioned me now you can choose. From what I've observed you and I are really alike. We are going to butt heads a lot, but that doesn't mean we can't work together." Abby stared at me for few moments. There was no tension, just silence. I could hear her mind contradicting itself. The human half said yes, while the cat instinct said no. Her eyes closed and then she mumbled,

"I'll go with you."

With that I turned around and walked to the mouth of the cave. The sun was slowly rising and an orange light spread across the sky. I let my face soak up the sun and then I turned around to give some directions.

"Abby, how fast can you go in lion form?"

"I don't know, but I do know it's really fast."

"Sam and Abby, head south from here. We'll meet you at the town behind the clothing shop. If you happen to get there first buy food with this." I handed them the twenty-five dollar bill I found in the stolen lab coat. "We will meet you there."

"See yeah little buddy," Abby patted Jenna affectionately on the head. Then Abby jumped of the cliff and we watched her land on her feet, we were in awe. Sam on the other hand landed with a thump. Thank god she landed in a match of moss, but that still must of hurt. She stood up brushing her hands and cackled,

"You'll never catch us." Abby rolled her eyes and together they both sped off. That left Maya, Jenna, Luna and I on the cliff.

"Ok, guys time to fly."

"Um, Max. I can't fly." Jenna said thinking I had forgotten.

"Oh, I know that, so we will just have to improvise,so how much do you weight ?"

**- 40 minutes later-**

"WEEEEEEEEE!" Jenna squealed as she was pulled through the air. Maya and I each held onto one of her hands. The wind was blowing, while she flew with us. Luna's moth wings weren't adapted to flying high, so she was positioned underneath us were the wind was less brutal. Even though Jenna's DNA was a creature made almost entirely out of water she loved the flight. Her hair was whistling behind her and her body was completely horizontal. The only thing she didn't enjoy was the occasional bug in her mouth.

The sun was high above our heads beating down on our backs, but we weren't uncomfortable. We were flying over the main current of wind, but every once and a while a gust would push us up. I liked it up here, because we were out of range from guns and human sight.

**"I see the town. It's right down there."** Maya and Luna's eyes followed were my hand was pointed to. Luna was about to dive when I yelled stop. My voice didn't compare to the winds roar, but thankfully she heard it. **"There are powerful winds below us. You have dive strait down at a very fast speed or else you'll get stuck in its path and you won't be able to get out until you are taken far away, you could be stuck for days. You need to build up speed and slice right through. Maya I'll take Jenna, because I've done this before. Also, just so you two don't get separate you should probably hold hands."**

The two tightly clasped each other's hands and dove. They disappeared under the swirling wind. I flew higher and prepared to dive.

"Wait Max, what are you doing?" Jenna screeched.

"Diving now hold onto my neck and hold on tightly." Jenna squeezed her eyes shut and held on very tightly. I circled in the air once. Then folded in my wings and dove. The winds rustled past my ears bouncing off my body. Jenna screamed in my ear, deafening me. I finished hurling through the currents and saw the ground coming at me in warp speed. I quickly snapped out my wings and landed softly on the grass.

As soon as we touched the ground Jenna sunk to her knees and clawed at the grass.

"I'm alive. I'M ALIVE," she shouted. I began to laugh at her prone body.

"It's not funny. I thought I was going to die. You scared the shit out of me." Jenna snapped.

"Now, now I thought we established that trust was important in this relationship." I couldn't help it, I barreled over with laughter.

After a few moments, Jenna begrudgingly got up and I could see a crack of a smile.

"We'll keep this a secret," she started out sweetly, but ended with the threat, "or else."

"Come on, let's go and find the other two." We started walking towards our destination. I saw two silhouettes standing on the hill overlooking the town.

"Come hurry up. I see them." We sprinted over to meet them.

"That was horrible. The wind almost blew me away, thankfully I was holding onto Maya." Luna exclaimed and I think Jenna muttered,

"Not as bad as my experience." I hushed all of them with the wave of my hand. We were had to get regular clothes to actually go into town, so we wouldn't draw any unwanted attention. I quickly scanned the town and saw that there were a bunch of shops, houses, cars and people. A plan formulated in my mind.

"Luna. Jenna. Do you see that Laundromat over there? I need you to go in there and find a person who looks about our size. Maya and I will cause a distraction, so when everyone run out you can um… borrow their clothes from the dryer. Got it?"

"Sure, but why do we have to do it?" Luna replied.

"Because you two are the youngest and will draw less attention than two 16 year old with dressing gowns on and we can't hid our wings. Your wings press against you back and don't even look like they are there and Jenna doesn't have any wings. Now let's go."

I watched as they went into the Laundromat. I followed their lead down the hill after they went in the shop.

"Ah this car should do. It's right in the center of town, so this will be quite a show." I began to raise my hands.

"Wait what are you going to-" Maya's voice was cut off by flames. They surged out of my hand and completely encased the car. I grunted to Maya,

"Kick the car. I want the siren to go off."

Hesitantly, Maya reeled back her foot and kicked right through the flame. The siren wailed and people began to rush out of stores to see what the commotion was. I quickly walked around the corner pulling Maya along with me, before anyone could see us.

"My car!" A silk-suited man shouted as he ran out of the jewelry store. He fell to the ground were the car was furiously burning. "My beautiful Mercedes, she was too young to die," he sobbed

"You can afford another one," I muttered to myself. Maya, with her keen sense of hearing, heard this and gave a light chuckle. I glanced around the corner and saw our other two co-conspirators slipping out of the laundromat. They give a small wave in my direction.

"There, heading behind the clothing shop, where we are all supposed to meet up. Let's go." We avoided the crowd of people by going behind the buildings. When we arrive, we saw Luna and Jenna talking to two other girls. When we approached they all turned around.

"Nice try Max, but we beat you this time." Sam excitedly, grinning ear to ear.

"Whatever," I said, not really caring that they beat us.

"Oh Max," Jenna hollered. "Look what I got for you at the Laundromat. Don't you just love it?" My mouth hung open disgusted at the clothing choice.

"There is no frick'n way I'm wearing that. They don't even have the decency to be called clothes," I stammered. Jenna was holding up a short, and I mean really short mini-skirt and a flowery imprinted tube top.

"Oh I thought you'd like them Max." Jenna said out loud and then whispered to me, "and this is payback for before." I glared at her and she shrunk back, but kept her triumph grin stayed on her face. We all changed into the clothing they got and were ready to go into the town.

"I say we get food first, and then some _decent_ clothing. I have this credit card, so we can buy stuff, but as soon as we use it we have to leave as quickly as possible. I don't know if the School has a trace on it. Ok?"

The six of us walked down streets without drawing to much attention. We stopped at a small looking restaurant and went inside. Inside it was a well-designed area for such as small place, but had no customers at all. At the front counter there was old little lady sitting alone in the eerie silence.

"Excuse me, can we get something to eat. We have a short time frame, and we are really hungry." The old women made a distinct nod and walked us to a table. She dropped six menus on the table and just stood there. In the end we order so much I thought the she was going to have a heart attack.

We ordered twenty medium sized hamburgers, a whole bunch of fries, and drinks. We each ate about two hamburgers on the spot and decided to keep six of them for the road. The meal cost one-hundred and thirty-one dollars. The whole restaurant staff was so surprise they came out to watch us.

Creepers aren't they, watching six teenage girls eat food.

After that we went in to a thrift shop. They really didn't have high fashion clothes, so I was so bummed out. Please tell me you can hear the sarcasm.

"Why are we here?"

"Well a thrift store has second hand items that have been donated by people. The items they sell tend to be much cheaper than buying new clothes and already have that lived in, comfortable look. Look for something you like and get it, then search for one extra set of clothing. If you see any supplies, like backpacks get those too. You have thirty minutes… tops."

I worked my way through the piles of clothes, books, electronics, and games. It was just pile after piles of stuff. After a few moments I found a pair of blue worn out jeans, a pair of shorts, seven elastic bands, two t-shirts- one camouflage shirt, while the other was black and said in small white letters: WARNING- If you are close enough to read this, you are about to get hit. Along with that I found a pair of black and blue Asics's, two big messenger bags- one black with red and the other a dark blue, a black aviator jacket, a fully charged i-pod with a big crack on the screen along with its charger, a wicked sharp pocket knife, and extra basic supplies.

I made my way back to the front desk ready to pay for everyone's stuff. As I walked up to the counter Luna came up to me and said,

"Max I couldn't find a bag to put my stuff in."

"It's ok," I replied. "I found two." I handed Luna the dark blue messenger bag and she smiled happily. When everyone arrived, I quickly paid for everyone's clothing. The lady at the counter looked baffled at how much we were buying.

"Is there a restroom that we can go change in?" The lady nodded and pointed us towards the back of the shop. I raced to the back, so I could get out of the clothes I had been wearing. They had been itchy, tight, and way too small for my comfort.

I had rushed into the first open stall and quickly changed into jeans, the black t-shirt, the aviator's jacket and the Asics's. I had put my hair into a messy braid with one of the elastic bands I had found. I put all the extra items I already had or just gotten into my bag, even some of the white coats stuff. I threw the lab coat and white nurse shoes away. I checked to see if I had enough for the journey:

1. Sedative needles (from the School)

2. White coat's I.D.

3. Pen and a piece of paper

4. Credit card

5. Paperclip

6. Folders- files I hadn't looked through yet and my own

7. Clothing- (a pair of jeans, a pair of shorts, 2 shirts, a pair of shoes, jacket and um… other things)

8. Misc. items, including some new items like a hairbrush, toothbrush and hair dye (purpose is for later on in the story)

9. I-pod

10. Pocket knife

I was ready.

I looked around to see what everyone else was wearing.

Sam was wearing dark blue jeans, brown sneakers, an aviator's jacket just like my own, and a murky green t-shirt. I tossed Sam one of the ponytail holders as she analyzed my outfit.

"Nice shirt," she smirked as she put her dark brown hair into a ponytail.

"Thanks" I replied back.

Luna came out next wearing a simple outfit just like ours. Faded jeans, a simple black t-shirt with a blue streak, black sneakers and a windbreaker. Her dark hair was already neatly braided and hanging over her left shoulder and in her hand she held small pocket knife.

Maya came out wearing a camouflage shirt a pair of jean shorts, a windbreaker and sneakers. Her hair was a rat's nest, so I threw her my hairbrush and a hair tie.

Abby came out second to last wearing a pair of skinny jeans, combat boots, these black net like gloves (what's the point they have holes in them?) and a white shirt with word in red that said: "Coca Cola… It's the real thing." As I read her shirt my eyebrows lifted as if saying, really? In return she nodded and smirked.

Jenna took a whole five extra minutes, but when she came out I was mentally questioning her choice of clothes. She was wearing a pair of skinny jeans, a white butterfly shirt that had dark brown buttons on it and wait there's more…

Boots with a thin stick like heel.

"Jenna you know that high heel boots aren't the best thing to wear in the woods when you're getting chased by people, right? And that white gets really dirty when you're on the run… in the woods?" I said this trying to point out that her choice wasn't appropriate for the job we had to do.

"I know, but the boots looked so cute on me and the shirt was the prettiest thing I've ever seen. I've never chosen my own stuff before so I guess I got a little carried away. I'm sorry, but wait isn't Abby wearing boots? Shouldn't I be able to if she can?"

"I'm wearing combat boots, Jelly head. You're wearing high fashion, breakable in a second boots." Abby laughed at the name, Jelly head. I didn't think it a good idea to call her that, but Jenna wasn't really listening. I decided to try to reason with her.

"How about you keep the shirt you have, but change the shoes. High heels aren't meant for the outdoors. How about you get sneakers or combat boots?"

"Fine," she mumbled.

In the end, she chose white/tannish sneakers, because they were lighter than the combat boots. Once we were all ready, I led the girls into a small store that sold disposable cell phones. I bought six with three hundred minutes on each of them. Everyone got one in case we got split up, but the phone was only to be used in emergencies.

"There's one last stop and then we have to get out of here." I stopped at an ATM machine and slid in the credit card. I typed in the password: Mother and withdrew two hundred dollars. Whoever set of the account should have made the maximum amount taken out higher. Two hundred would not last us long.

"This is so we don't have to use the credit card for a while, in case of tracking. The account only lets me take a maximum of two hundred." I said to their confused faces. "Now we need to get out of here." I said this in a commanding voice, so they would understand the importance.

"Where are we going and are we traveling the same way as last time?" Jenna asked her face flushed with pink. I answered when we reached the boarder of the town.

"We should head out into the woods and take cover before nightfall and yes. We are traveling the same way as last time. It's the most efficient way to travel, because not all of us can fly." I turned to Jenna to see if she would protest. Instead she just stared at the ground. Luna was the next to speak up,

"I saw a really tall tree that was about three miles away from here. We would have to head south again and the tree is very easy to find. I think I saw a small ditch surrounding it."

"Ok, that's where we are going. Maya, Luna do an up and away. Abby and Sam, see you soon."

"Save me," Jenna mumbled.

I took a running start and got into the air. Once I had a steady beat I flew back down and lowered my hands, while Jenna reached up and jumped up. We grabbed each other's hands and I began tilt downwards, but with one powerful, strained flap we surged up towards the others. When I got to Maya she grabbed one of Jenna's hands tightly.

"See it wasn't that bad. Was it?" I asked half-heartedly as Jenna kept her eye's pinched shut.

"I'm perfectly fine when you two pull me along. It's just the plummeting and rising that I hate."

"Just think of it as the waves moving up and down." Maya said gently.

"Whatever, let's get going. The sooner we are there, the quicker I'm on the ground."

"You know you have to get use to this, because this is how we are going to travel for most of the time." I replied with sincerity in my voice.

"Oh god," was her only answer.

**-A quick 15 minutes later-**

We would have gotten there quicker, but Luna wasn't really good with flying. She hadn't really had any practice before and her wings were very thin. Randomly she would be pushed backwards or sideways by the wind. Hopefully she would adapt to the conditions.

"At least I didn't scream this time," Jenna whispered in my ear as we landed.

"Well there was no dive bombing and we weren't above the main wind current."

"Whatever," she mumbled back.

We stood in front of the largest tree I've ever seen. Its roots were gnarly and long, while the braches were nice and thick and branched out randomly. The tree was healthy and covered in leaves.

"Wow, this is the perfect natural tree house." I said looking at it in awe. The others looked at it speechless. The bushes rustled behind us and out came Sam and Abby.

"Wow," Sam said breathlessly.

"Cool tree," was all Abby offered to say.

"Pick a branch that you want to sleep in and then meet right back here at the base of the tree." I shouted.

I whipped out my wings and flew off to one of the higher parts of the tree. I decided to settle in a crotch of the tree. The reason I like to sleep specifically were a branch breaks of is because it has more support than a single branch and there is a less of a chance that you'll fall.

Even as high as I was, the two branches were very thick and wide. I placed my stuff carefully between the two and flew down to the center. When everyone landed, I decided it was time to tell them where we had to go.

"Last night, I had been looking at the files and they basically tell you where the other Schools are, except for the fifth. The files give coordinates on the location of the other Schools. Right now we are in Maine and have recently destroyed School 4. The other places we are going to are: New York, California (The Death Valley,) and somewhere in Europe. I think we should go to New York first, because I know where the School is. It is called the Institute for Higher Living…"

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><p><strong>Does everyone remember what the Voice said in book two: Schools Out Forever? In the book the Voice mentioned to Max that the Schools are like the mythical Greek creature called the hydra. It said that Max had to defeat the "body" of it, not the "heads," because the heads would just lead to more, while the body would take it all down. The four places I mention are four parts of "the body" or the major Schools. Any other Schools mentions in the previous books that I didn't say (like the one in Florida where Max battled Max II,) are now considered "heads" or minor schools. <strong>

**Also, in my story there are two categories that mutants can fall under when it comes to strength, vision, speed, agility, intelligence, etc. Mutants are separated by being called advanced or enhanced.**

**Advanced- stronger than a human, old version (ex: Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel would fall under)**

**Enhanced- stronger than advanced mutants, newer version, given the drug in School 4 (ex: Max, Sam, Maya, Abby, Jenna, and Luna)**

**I hope this clears my story up more.**

**-The Jade Empress**

***Can I get another 15 or more reviews?**


	11. Sewers

_**Hey guys it's the Jade Empress. Sorry about last week and not updating. This chapter is the first part of the destruction of the Institute for Higher Living. The second part is going to be up next week on Friday like usual.**_

_**Read on**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride, James Patterson does.**_

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><p>We were flying, again, but this time it was at night. Jenna was tightly squeezing Maya's neck as I hovered over the forest below. I had a prickling sensation on the nape of my neck and it wouldn't go away. I felt like someone was near and watching us, but I couldn't see where they were. Someone tapped my shoulder and I whirled around wide eyed.<p>

"Max I thought we agreed that we'd meet at the park over there," Luna said crossly as she floated down to me. "Why are you looking for them?"

"**I'm not looking for them,"** I stated roughly. Luna's eyes blinked quickly, her face showed surprise at my tone. **"Sorry, it's just I feel like someone's watching us."**

"**That's impossible; no human can see us from up here."**

"**I admit that is true, but what if it's a mutant that's searching for us." **Luna crossed her arms and looked away. To others they might have thought she was angry at me and she probably was, but I saw something else in her reaction. I could tell she knew I was right and it's not because I read her mind. It's just that I do the same thing whenever someone proves that I'm wrong.

"**Everyone stay silent. I think someone's watching us. I don't know who they are or where they are located, but be careful of what you say." **I projected my thoughts loudly, so everyone in our group could hear it, even from a mile away.

Maya and Luna nodded grimly and continued in silence. Jenna on the other hand didn't stay quiet, instead she decided to grace us with mouthfuls of meaningless blabbering for the rest of the time flying

"Look New York! Oh the lights are so bright and pretty, but I can't see the stars. It's probably from the light pollution, right Max? When we get to New York, can I get a giant salt pretzel? One of the white coats was talking about them in the school. Do you think they're-" The rest of her words were muffled when Luna came up and covered her mouth with her hand.

"Oh, look guys we're here. Let's fly down _quietly_, so we don't get caught." Luna said pointedly towards Jenna.

We landed in a small park somewhere on the outskirts of the City. We landed without drawing any attention which seemed like a major feat. I slowly extended my right arm towards the center of the park and said nonchalantly,

"Welcome to the New York, the city that never sleeps."

Evidence of this was that people were still running around, walking their dogs and chatting on the benches under street lamps.

It's was nearly midnight.

"We'll find Sam and Abby tomorrow morning. Let's get to sleep, because tomorrow we are going to put our plan into action." After I completed this command, I nestled in a high tree branch while the others settled in branches below me.

**- Next morning-**

My first thoughts when I woke up were: what the hell is going on? I felt a warm sticky hand covering my mouth and nose. My eyes were still unfocused from the sudden burst of light and all I could make out was a silhouette hovering really close to me, so I followed my natural instinct.

I punched person in the stomach. I heard a loud oomph as I made contact and then they lost balance and fell to the ground. I quickly jumped down and turned to face my opponent. The person stayed on the ground, but raised their head slowly up in surrender.

My glare melted into a smile when I saw it was Sam on the grass. She rolled over onto her back hair sprawled out all over her face. She pressed a hand to her stomach and in an exaggerated voice she moaned,

"Oh the pain! Why must I fall victim to your fists!" Someone snickered quietly behind me.

"I told you not to wake her up. Her natural instinct obviously kicked in." I turned to see Abby standing in the shadows. Even though I could see her, it seemed like the shadows could consume her at any moment.

"Where are Maya, Luna and Jenna?" I asked my brain was hazy and I scanned through it to make sure I didn't forget anything else.

"They're getting food. We saw a street vendor selling pretzels, peanuts, hot dogs, chips and drinks, so we gave them some money." Sam declared.

"And that Jenna wouldn't stop jabbering about getting a pretzel, shopping and sightseeing. She wants to go to the Statue of Liberty. Can you believe that? She's a crazy kid." Abby shook her head disapprovingly at the thought.

A shutter ran through me as I thought about what we'd have to go through to actually go to the statue. We'd have to strip of all are supplies, because of the knives. We'd most likely get separated and worst, all of the people that would be there. I mean out of all the places to go. I thought for a moment before answering.

"I understand the kid want some fun after being cramped up-"

"You're not serious about going?" Sam asked incredulously. Shock was etched on her forehead.

"I never said we are going there. It's way to enclosed for my taste and I can tell from your faces you feel the same way. But at the same time, I feel disappointed for letting her down. How about we let her choose something else as long as we approve of it?"

"Fine," Abby grumbled.

"Let's go find them then" Sam said cheerfully.

We slipped through the park without any trouble. When we found Jenna and Luna. They were watching an argument with amusement.

"Where is-" Sam was cut off when Luna pointed to the center of the crowd.

We turned around to find Maya was in a heated argument with the street vendor and a young man. We got to the front of the crowd when she was just finishing her sentence.

"- I didn't knock over the soda on purpose. That man shoved me!"

"Look I didn't shove you. You tripped on your own two feet and spilt the soda on this nice man. " The young man sarcastically retorted.

"Dam tourists," the vendor growled. "If you hadn't noticed I have a big line, so can you take your fight somewhere else?"

"No. I want some food and I intend to get it. Do you know how long I've been standing in the line? And I know I didn't trip over my feet. This Neanderthal pushed me and needs to apologies."

"Now why would I do either of those things?" The man smirked at Maya like she was the funniest thing in the world.

Before Maya could answer I stepped out of the crowed and put my hand on her shoulder. She sighed in defeat, but stayed next to me glaring at the man.

"Oh look, you couldn't handle me by yourself and now you've got your other little friend here to help you. Oh no, what am I going to do?" He flailed his arms in the air and made his voice go all high and squeaky. This sent a ripple of laughter through the crowed making him grin.

"You know you shouldn't talk to people like that. It's not nice." I said icily. He swallowed nervously. I could see his Adams apple bobble.

"Blondie over here was getting on my nerves and that's not _nice_ either." He emphasized nice.

"Well in that case I won't be nice too. **How about you give us free food for all the trouble you've caused us? That would be the least you could do, isn't it?" **I gave him an innocent smile. His pupil dilated and you could barely see the green iris surrounding it.

"Yeah… I should do that. I'm sorry that I wasted your time. It wasn't right of me." The man immediately turned around and started order food from the vendor. The vendor looked flabbergasted, but hastily obliged. The rest of the crowd looked at the scene with confusion. They did not hear the effect of my words like the man had. I knew I had to change that.

"**Why don't you guys walk away from here and forget this ever happened?"**I asked mentally with the same innocent voice I used on the man. Once their pupils had dilated they all walked away dazed.

"Here's your food," the vendor said in a monotone voice.

"Thanks," was my only reply. I walked away with my arms full of hotdogs, pretzels, water bottles, and chips. When I approached the others who were sitting on a park bench they just stared at me.

"What?" I asked. The first to recover was Abby.

"That was-"

"Awesome! What power was that? How did you do that?" Jenna shrieked with excitement.

"It's just another form of telepathy. It's a technique were you convince people to do things for you. It can work with big crowds, but the bigger the less power off them. I basically planted an idea in their heads and they listened to it. The only problem is they can fight the control quickly, so in about ten minutes my influence will stop, but they won't remember what happened clearly."

"If they can fight the suggestion why was it so easy to control them?" Abby asked suspiciously.

"Well first of all, if you didn't notice we're genetically enhanced mutants and they are regular humans. I don't like to separate groups, but they are weaker when it comes to brain stability. Yes, they left, but I didn't make them… well not entirely. They wanted to listen to my suggestion."

"Oh," was her silent and only reply.

"Jenna we were discussing your wonderful wishes before and decided it is a no, no. It's too dangerous and stupid to go there." Abby said. Jenna and surprisingly Luna's face became sad. Sam glared at Abby and continued in a lighter tone,

"But we are going to make an exception and let you decided to go somewhere else-"

"As long as we approve it," Abby finished with the same put-down voice.

"But before any of that happens we have to infiltrate the School just like we discussed the other night. If it goes smoothly we can do one thing that everyone wants to do. Ok?"

"Yep," Jenna replied cheerily.

"OK," Luna replied.

**- Around noon-**

This is the perfect place for mutants to hide. No one and I mean NO one would ever suspect who we are. I saw an oversized hairy man with about fifty something tattoos lumbering down the street. Not far behind him were three teenage girls who all had orange hair.

Orange out of all the colors of the rainbow!

We continued down the lively streets of New York and tried to act like normal tourists. Having not eaten for the past couple of days we were starving. We ate way too much way to fast.

"Oh my god," Sam groaned. "I think this is the first time if eaten so much I feel like I'm going to puke."

"Ditto," Jenna replied.

"That's just gross. You should eat your fill, not stuff your selves to the puking point." Luna said. It was quite clear that she was annoyed.

"Come on guys we'll enter the sub way at Pen station and make our way to the tunnel under Thirty-third street before night fall. It's just a few more blocks away." I was frustrated with them as well. They were being very… immature.

Abby, Luna and I sped up our pace, so they had no choice, but to follow.

Necessary - Yes

Did they like it – No

When we got to the subway the tunnel split up in different directions just like the last time I had come here.

"What do we do now?" Abby asked.

"We need to take the one with no tracks." I pointed to the one on our lefts and everyone began to slowly shuffle down the shady claustrophobic tunnel.

We made our way down the tunnel until we came to an intersection. I squinted my eyes as I looked for the outline of the metal grate. Once I located the grate I beckoned everyone towards it. I curled my fingers into a fist above the rusted grate and in one fluid motion flicked my fist open. Flames shot out of my hand glowing brightly in the darkness.

The flames licked at the grate, going in and out of the holes. The metal began to melt before our eyes making a sizzling sound. Before I knew it, all that was left was a small puddle and a small dark hole.

I jumped down without any hesitance and landed with a light thud on a small dry spot. I was completely submerged in darkness. The only noises I heard in the sewer were the scuttling of rats and the slow flow of sewer water.

I flipped my hand out like one would do when throwing a Frisbee and a clump of fire grew. I put my arms down and it stayed hovering a few feet of the floor. The next sound was someone jumping through the hole above. I quickly shifted to the right so I wouldn't be crushed. Abby's form landed on her knees, but made the slightest noise. She quietly stood up and nodded.

I took five minutes to get everyone down, but eventually we were all down and counted for.

"Maya, let's shift all the water, so it flows around us. Ok?" She nodded uneasily. We both stepped into the sewer water and instantly my shoes soaked it up. The water came all the way up to my knee.

Together we both pushed our arms to the side. The water began to recede around us as are arms moved farther out.

"You can hop in the circle now." The others jumped over the rest of the flowing water and landed next to us.

"You know you guys are lucky," all their gazes locked to me. "When I came here last with the… ex-flock we had to trudge through all of this water and we could barely see."

While we traveled through the sewers we didn't talk about much. When there was talking, it was just mindless chatter from Jenna. When we came upon the door to the Institute, I noticed they had upgraded their protection. Instead of a simple lock it was a high Tec scanner.

Joy.

"Now what?" Jenna moaned. "Did we come here for nothing?"

"Hold on. Let me check my magical bag to see if we have anything. Now where is it?" I said sarcastically, while rolling my eyes.

I shuffled through my messenger bag until I found the scientist's I.D. I pulled it out and shoved it in front of the scanner. A thin green line scanned over it from left to right and then the scanner went blank.

Subconsciously in my mind I was wondering: I hope this actually works.

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><p>Control room:<p>

Meanwhile in the control room there were two security guards. The one with blonde hair had a dopey smile on, while the one with brown hair was frowning in his sleep. The man with blonde hair was lazily watching the different camera images on the computer screen and was almost asleep. All of a sudden information popped up about a Scientist who wanted entry to the Institute.

"Hey Vincent look at this. It says Dr. Andrea R. Newberg's here." The man watching the computer shook his companion from his sleep.

"Yeah, so why aren't you letting her in?" Vincent answered stiffly

"Well her bio. Says she's from the labs all the way in Maine. What's she doing here?"

"I don't know and I don't care. Just let her in." The man was losing his patience. All he wanted was a little rest.

"But-" The first man began timidly.

"I don't give a dam, Junior. Let Newberg in and that's final. Last time you refused I almost got fired, because you didn't let in that scientist, Jeb Batchelder. Whoever this Newberg lady is, I'm sure she won't cause any problems for us as long as you let her in. Do it now." His face was turning slightly red with aggravation.

Junior shrank back in his seat and quickly pushed the open button.

"See now was that, so hard?" Vincent asked in a snarky voice. "Geez by the way you argued you think that this Institute would come to an end, because of letting on lady scientist in."

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><p>3rd Person P.O.V.<p>

_They weren't going to be blown up with any fire or a bomb, but they still would have to suffer the consequence of letting the intruders in. Turns out blonde should've followed his gut-feeling and maybe the white coats wouldn't have lost almost everything._

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><p>Max's P.O.V.<p>

I heard the quiet whirl of gears and then a faint click.

We were in.

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><p><em><strong>MWA HAHAHA! I gave another cliffy, but it's not that bad. It keeps you on the edge of you seating waiting for action.<strong>_

_**Oh and I was thinking about how some of you may have questions about Max's minds control/reading/projecting skills. I made a chart for you explaining different levels. Remember she is level 8.5**_

_**Mind control/reading/projecting levels:**_

_**1 – Ability to feel other people's emotions (reading)**_

_**2 – Ability to listen to peoples thoughts only; it has to be what's on their mind (reading)**_

_**3 – Ability to talk to one person at a time using a mental link (projecting)**_

_**4 – Ability to search people's mind for anything (reading)**_

_**5 – Ability to talk to multiple people at a time using a mental link (projecting)**_

_**6 – Ability to help direct a person's choice, resistance can be found (controlling)**_

_**7 – Ability to control a person entirely, they have no choice (controlling)**_

_**8 – Ability to set up mind blocks for other people, so they don't waste energy (reading)**_

_**Also, begins the battling of the brains. Were you can inflict pain into others with brain waves (controlling/ projecting)**_

_**9 – Ability of persuasive projecting, it's for affecting a bigger audience of people, but is less powerful. It wears off after a while and people can fight it. Mutants are more resistant (controlling)**_

_**10 – Ability to control every single thing here perfectly and they can give lower mind control/reading/projecting false information without them knowing. **_

_***When controlling people it is better to have less. The more focus you can have on one person the better. That's why when Max is in a fight she will not control the enemies mind unless it only a few people. (Humans are easier to control.)**_

_**I'll update on Friday next week with the second part.**_

_**Can I get at least 15 or more reviews this chapter.**_

_**-The Jade Empress**_

_*** Next chapter I will introduce some of the OC's readers have created, so look out for yours. I will give credit in (). Remember I most likely contacted you if you character is in the story. If they aren't mentioned next week don't worry they will be later on.**_

_**(Don't forget you character will not be part of the main group. They will be in the story and contribute in some way, but won't be traveling with; Max, Sam, Maya, Abby, Jenna and Luna.)**_

_*** The Flock will come into the story, just not yet.**_

_***If you have any questions ask them in a review and I will respond.**_


	12. Voltage

**Hey guys it's the Jade Empress. I'm so sorry about the wait and the Authors Note. Life's just busy. Ok so here's the deal won't be able to update every Friday anymore. In fact I might not be able to do every other week. My promise is that I'll get at least on chapter pasted a month. It may sound long, but I need the time to make a good chapter. Since it will be an unsteady flow of updating I suggest you alert or favor the story.**

**I have an explanation for this chapter at the bottom.**

**This is the chapter were some new characters are introduced. Don't worry I'll give the creators credit during and at the end of this chapter. Please read on.**

**Disclaimer: I don not own Maximum Ride James Patterson does.**

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><p><em>Flashback:<em>

_I heard the quiet whirl of gears and then a faint click. _

_We were in._

The door swung open and it revealed a long, dark flight of stairs. I headed down with Sam and Maya flanking me, while Abby brought up the rear. We were about halfway down when Jenna complained.

"This place reeks of danger and it's really humid down here."

"Jenna…" Abby started.

"Yeah?"

"…shut up and keep going down."

"No need for the sarcasm," she replied in a hurt tone.

At the bottom of the staircase there was an open archway leading into a large room with a meeting table and chairs. The room had two doors that headed in opposite directions and was empty of humans. Now if you've been following me for a while you should have been as confused as I was.

"Where are the computers? There was a giant computer here the last time I came! Crap." I gazed around looking for any hints on where we should go.

Nothing at all, no map and not a single clue.

"Alright we're going to have to split up. We can't stay here for long, but we need to get the job done. Jenna, Maya and I will go search for the computers. Abby, Luna and Sam you guys go and look for other mutants. I'll set up a mental link with Sam, so we can communicate. If you do find the computers contact us instantly. Remember you have one hour tops and stay together."

Before we separated I tossed Sam my paperclip.

"It's to help you open any locks you find." I whispered and then walked to my group. My group headed in to the West wing, while the others went towards the East.

"Ok. Think, think." I commanded myself as when walked down the door less corridor. "If they changed the schematics of the Institute they probably put the central computer system far away from the entrance. The problem is we don't know how big this place really is, so all we have to do… is…"

"You just need to get the blue prints of the Institute. They have to have them in one of the lab rooms-" Maya started with Jenna cutting her off abruptly.

"-yeah, they need them for drills like when intruders come, an experiment gone wrong or maybe even a crazy mutant attack!"

I nodded and we carefully rounded the corner. In front of us was a dead end.

"Now what?" Maya asked. I frowned. A hallway that has nothing in it and it leads to a dead end? That doesn't sound right.

"Nice. You lead us to a dead end." Jenna said sarcastically. She put her back against the wall to rest. "Now what-" She yelped and fell through. We could no longer see her, but I still sensed her standing there.

"Guys, why are you standing there like idiots? Help me up!" I could hear Jenna's voice coming from the wherever she had gone, but I couldn't see her.

Hesitantly, I stretched out my arm and placed it on the wall. The wall rippled at the slightest touch; like water when the winds blowing. A small shudder escaped me when my arm disappeared behind the wall.

"What the hell is this? Magic?" Maya asked.

"No…" I said slowly. It's some sort of projection a trick of some sort. It looks like a wall, but it isn't. This must lead to the rest of the School." To test my theory I stepped all the way through. It felt like I walked through a thin sheet of water. I opened my eyes and saw Jenna standing brushing off her legs.

"The floor is _so_ dirty," was her only comment.

I turned around just in time to see Maya come through. Goosebumps were all over her arms.

"That felt weird and tingly," she replied, disgusted. From the side we were on, we could now see the other side without any illusion. It was like a one way mirror.

The room we were in was tiled a dark blue. There were no lights on, but the small square tiles gave off an eerie glow. I could just make out the shape of the room - it was circular and there were two arches. The one we came in and the other leading in a different direction.

In the center of the room was a giant glowing fish tank. When I mean big it was about 50 feet long and about 30 feet wide. We cautiously approached the tank unsure of what we would find. Inside was filled with greenish water and a dozen small caves that were netted at the openings. On the tank there was a metal ladder the lead up to the top, that was about 40 feet in the air.

"Wow." Maya looked at tank speechlessly. It gave off a glow that made you just want to stare at it. I nudged them to climb up the ladder and followed after them. When we reached the top we saw that the whole perimeter was walled in. A small scanner was hanging on the wall. I scanned the white coats ID in front of it. The screen read,

**ACCESS DENIED**

"Let me try," Jenna suggested. She put her hand on top of the scanner and closed her eyes. I was about to ask her what she was doing when I saw a small light run through her body. The scanner started to sizzle and then the screen cracked. Then the metal slide open creating a door shape.

We hurried in.

A small platform stood in the middle of all the fog. The only thing that connected it to the door was a metal bridge. We hurried along. On the platform there were thousands of small glowing buttons. I skimmed the buttons for one that would be useful, but what they were was written in a different language. Until I found one I understood. It said,

**打开**

It means open in Chinese. I clicked the button. Gurgling occurred below us and figures moved underneath. Jenna let out a small squeak

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><p>Sam's POV:<p>

I ushered Abby and Luna down the hallways. It had a bunch of doors, but most of them just led to dark and empty rooms.

"This is pointless," Luna stated.

'I agree. We have no idea where we're going," Abby said.

"We're just looking for other mutants. It shouldn't be that hard." I tried to reason, but they were just fed up with walking around. "Fine let's just try this last room. The humidity is making it hard for me to identify nearby living creatures, but I think someone's in here."

We opened the door and the first thing that hit me was the smell. The room had a horrible odor that smelled of decaying flesh and uncleanliness. It made my eye's water and stomach churned.

"I think I'm hoping to be sick," Luna moaned. She turned around right on time a through up in the corner. If you think we were over-reacting, think again.

Once our eyes had at least stopped stinging, we moved around the room. The first three cages held dead bodies. It was impossible to distinguish if this even had been a living being. Its form was wrinkled, and looked like a giant old raisin. They had to have been dead for over two months.

"Those white coats have no respect for living creatures. They just left the body here to rot!" Luna shouted outraged.

"Who's there?" A trembling voice asked. We moved closer to the sound. When we got closer we saw a girl who looked about a year younger then I was.

The girl had her legs up pressed to her body. I could tell she was a few inches shorter than I and she was so skinny she looked sick. Her skin was stretched really tight over her bones and she had huge frightened blue eyes. Her dull brown hair was tangled in knots and sprawled over her shoulders.

"Who are you? Are there more of you?" Abby asked quickly.

The girl in the cave shivered, "Of course there is more of us. There's only one question though. Are they still alive or are they dead?"

I quickly moved towards her cages lock. In a matter of seconds I had it off the cage and the door swung open. "Come with us, we'll get you out of here." I said in a hushed tone. The girl tried to move, but she could barely stand. Abby was beginning to get impatient.

"Come on, come on. We have more things to accomplish." I gave Abby a glare and she shut up momentarily.

The girl gathered enough strength to stand and walked out of the cage. She tottered for a few moments. "I'm Romie, pronounced Rome like the city and then EE as in heat," the girl said once she regained balance. **Created by:** **Something Generic.**

I nodded to Luna and Abby. They both walked off in search of other mutants. "Well, Romie, we are going to get you out of here." She allowed the girl to lean against her arm for support.

"Thanks," the girl managed to mumble.

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><p>Luna's POV:<p>

I looked around happy to get away from the dead bodies. My stomach was still churning, but there was nothing left to heave. I really didn't like this mission, there was too much at stake. I barely knew the others let alone fully trust them with my life, but at the moment I was short of options.

I walked around until I couldn't see anything in the darkness. I made my body light up. It gave a glow in the darkness.

"Now I'm an easy target for anyone else." I shook my head and continued on.

I heard a quiet moan come from the corner. I looked and saw there was a girl curled up on the cage floor. Now unlike Sam I didn't run to her side and try to open the cage. Instead, I slowly inched towards her not daring to make a sound. When I was close enough to her I cleared my throat. The figure turned to look at me and a surprisingly strong feminine voice asked,

"Do you have something in your throat? If so, cough it up, because you're annoying me." The girl in the cage looked up. I could tell she was annoyed with me, but at the same time I didn't mind. I like the sound of her voice. It was so… melodic.

"Why don't you open the cage for me?" She suggested. Normally I would have refused, but my body moved forward anyway and began to move towards the lock.

"That's right," she cooed. "Keep going you almost done with the lock." My mind froze as I realized what she was doing. Using a lot of effort I raised my fingers to my ears, blocking any source of noise that came from her. She looked at me angrily and mouthed, "Dam."

I reached into part of her mind searching for what she feared most, and the image was confusing. This fear was symbolized.

There were two plants a weed and a seedling of a flower. They both grew equally using resources. The ground in which the flower was living on began to crack and dry. The flower began to shrivel as the weed grew even more. The flower disappeared and the weed remained. Then the ground against the weed turned against it and dried out. The weed began to die just like the flower once had.

I was brought back to the present when I heard screaming echoing in my ears. I understood her fear now.

"You're afraid of being betrayed, aren't you? You'd give up your best friend to survive, but you wouldn't want them to do the same to you. That's pathetic. Now I'm going to remove my fingers from my ears. Do not try to persuade me again or I will give you a bigger taste of what you fear."

I unplugged my ears and heard nothing, but silence.

"Good, now believe it not I'm going to help you." Luna finished breaking of the girl rusted lock. She opened the door and gestured for the girl to come out. The girl regarded her with wary eyes.

She was as tall as Luna herself, but she looked different in every other way. The girl was obviously Chinese. She had short dark brown hair with red sun streaked highlights. Her hair was dark at the top, but it faded at the tips. She had dark brown almond eyes that have gold flecks and pale skin. She looked half starved to death. Hesitantly she stuck out her hand and said,

"I'm Aria."

"I'm Luna. Don't try anymore tricks." Aria grinned.

"I'm obliged not to; you got me out of the cage."

"Your words don't make me feel any more relaxed than before." I replied.

"Smart, I think I like you." After that it seemed like we had an unspoken agreement of peace, for the time being. We continued searching until we met a dead end. I led her back to the entrance and told Sam and Abby,

"I found one, her names Aria. The rest of the cages were either empty or filled with the dead."

"Same," Abby replied. "He doesn't have a name though."

"What kind of DNA does he have?" Sam asked.

"I don't know ask him, he's right he you know."

"No need for the sarcasm." Sam turned to get a better look at the young man standing before her. He was at least six feet tall. Like Aria he too looked Asian. His shaggy hair came down to his shoulders covering half of his eye. His eyes were onyx colored and had gold specks in them. Looking at his arms you could see well defined lines of gold that looked permanently etched in his skin. Despite his thin figure you could tell he was still strong and had muscles.

The young man stepped forward and said in a deep, rough voice, "If it matters so much I have Komodo Dragon, Bat, human and chemical replacement DNA. They called me a Varanus komodoensis (Komodo Dragon) hybrid, but you may call me Long. It is Chinese for Dragon."

His voice and aura gave off the same a presence Max had. It made you want to listen to him, because he seemed like he knew the answer. But at the same time it seemed different. We were all startled by his voice. Sam was the first to recover from his voice.

"We'll worry about his name later. Right now we should get out of here. I doubt there aren't secret camera's and security guards. Let's go to are meeting point and wait for the others before we are caught-"

The floor rumbled beneath them and lights flickered off and on.

"You're too late." A voice echoed around the room. A siren went off and a growl came from the darkness. Sam, Abby and Luna nodded in agreement and pulled the new mutants.

"Run," they commanded. They all ran out the door as fast as they could. Laughter echoed through the caged room and a girl's voice rang in the hallway following them.

"You'll never escape me. I'll always find you."

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><p>Jenna's POV:<p>

Fog rose and the figures swam underneath us. Bubbles were rising and they kept disappearing from sight. Finally, Max decided to do something before they attacked us from nowhere. She raised both her arms in the air and then in one solid movement pushed them down. The fog disappeared leaving us surrounded by clear water.

We stood back to back as the creatures swam around us. The first appearance was from a girl. She exploded out of the water her brown hair flying behind her. The girl landed crouched at our feet. She immediately jumped up into a fighting stance and stared us down hard. Her dark blue eyes were cold and calculating. Her eyes didn't betray her in anyway and gave us no information of what she was thinking.

Next a boy rode in onto the platform on a wave. He jumped off of it and landed on the opposite side of her. His grayish blue bangs dangled loosely in his face. His face was angled, jagged and he had a long sharp nose. Like the girl, he had the same fierce blue eyes. **Created by: Eichlera.**

The final two figures, but emerged very differently. One violently jumped out of the water. His eyes were blue as well, but tinted with red. This boy had real pale blond hair, which looked mutilated from the water. **Created by: I lOvE gIrAfFeS** .The other figure was a girl. For her the mist swirled around the platform and she calmly walked out of it. Unlike the others she didn't pose as much as a threat. Her hair was a dull blonde and her eyes looked bleached. She just stood there silently with a grim face.

The first to emerge was the one to speak for them.

"Who are you and why did you free us from our cages?" The brunette snarled.

"Stop talking, lets attack-" The boy with reddish eyes yelled, but got cut off by the leader.

"Shadow, shut up and let me do the talking. Don't mess this up like the last time." The girls eyes didn't waver a second from us. Her voice was full of command and strength. The boy tried to protest, but the second girl replied. Her voice was melodic and serene.

"Listen to Iris. She knows what to do and we're to follow her without a word, that's the privilege you lost." Her voice seemed to calm everyone's nerves in the room. She looked at Iris to continue.

"Thank you M, now answer our questions." The girl looked at Max expectantly. Max response startled the girl.

"I'm Max, this is Maya and Jenna. We've come to free you from this hell hole."

"What if we don't need saving?" She challenged.

"That's ridiculous. You wouldn't be here if you didn't need… help. And if that doesn't change your mind, we're going to crash the computers. If you don't come with us, they're going to blame you. It's your choice." The girl thought more a moment.

"I will do what is best for us. This… alliance is not permanent. You will get us out of here, but not control our decisions." She said each word slowly as if she were thinking about its impact later on.

"Agreed, we will not stop you from leaving us, but we hope you don't leave immediately." The girl nodded and both boys started to step forward to argue with her. She raised her hand in a sign to stop them. They halted, but grumbled angrily. When she was sure they were done she turned to me.

"You are one of us?" Iris asked. She took a step forward and gently took my hand. The she whispered, "I trust your group, because of you. Do not disappoint me." Her grip loosened and in the palm of my hand was a blue glowing symbol of a wave.

"It is the symbol of the great ocean. As long as you know your origin, you can gain strength from that knowledge." The girl with blonde hair stated. "I'm Misty and those to knuckle heads over there are Ike and Shadow."

Max and the girl, Iris walked left through the door and headed down to the floor. We followed them, but there was an awkward silence. When headed out of the room with the tank and continued down white tiled hallway. It had black dots that created a line along the wall. At the end of the hallway there was a door that was labeled,

**Control Room**

"Finally," I said reading the sign. The door had no lock and no door knob, only a scanner. We scanned the ID on the scanner and yet again it came as,

**Access Denied**

"I'm so sick of these scanners," Maya said exasperated.

I reached out and tried to shock the scanner into opening for us. Instead of opening the scanner collected my electricity and redirected my shock back to me.

"Shit," I mumbled bringing my hand away; the shock was on high voltage. I can absorb it the electricity, but I still feel it running through my body.

"I agree." Max says. "I guess we'll have to use prehistoric methods. " She took about ten steps back. She ran forward at the door and when she was right in front of it she jumped up and swung out her leg in a sidekick. As her foot hit the door, the hinges broke off and it caved in sending her into the control room. Max flipped in the air and landed in a crouch.

"Nice," Ike shook his head in approval, he was impressed.

We all entered the room with caution. There were glowing screens covering every single wall leaving no gaps. At their bases were keyboards and chairs for those who worked there. In the center of the room seemed to be a generator.

The generator was glowing and made a small humming noise.

"Everyone fan out and look for anything that you think could be useful." Max commanded. She grabbed me by the arm and pulled me up to the generator. "This is our target. This is what we came for and this is where you can contribute you powers Jenna. Understand that smashing the computers isn't a perfect plan way to destroy their systems. They have to have a backup somewhere on this computer, so what I want you to do is destroy it."

"I don't know how." I answered.

"It's simple," Maya stated as she walked around the room. "Your electrical touch will short the computers out entirely. Anything inside of it will be fried and no longer a use to the white coats." I gulped nervously.

"This is a lot of pressure. Thanks for putting the weight of **our** world on **my** shoulders." I approached the humming generator. I though, better get it over now.

I put my hand to the warm metal. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I felt my heart beat speed up and a tingling sensation flow through my body. The electricity flowed down through my finger tips and into the generator. I could feel my energy rushing out of my body into the computer and I couldn't stop it. The smell of burning wires entered my nose and I opened my eyes.

* * *

><p>Max POV:<p>

Once Jenna had placed her hand on the generator the room was filled with light.

We watched as the electricity shot through her body into the generator. All the computers seemed to glow at full power and the light overhead flickered on. The sound of whirling gears, buzzing lights and the pumping of the generator filled the room.

The last voltage of energy shot through Jenna's arm into the generator, which cause it to collapse. Smoke poured out of it and it began to crack right down the middle. It split entirely in half and imploded. The computer screens turned black and they cracked. The light above dropped from the ceiling hanging only by a few wires and sparks went flying.

I dropped to the ground to keep from getting hit in the head.

When most of the action was done I cautiously stood up. The air was filled with debris and all I could see was Jenna, who stood blinking in the middle of the wreckage.

"M…M…Max I feel a little light headed…" Her eye's rolled into the back of her head and she sunk to the ground. I quickly went over to Jenna and picked her up.

"Good job. I owe you for doing this," I murmured into her ear even though she couldn't hear me. I shifted her so I was carrying her piggy back style. She was still breathing, but her face was very pale and drained of energy.

"Report," I shouted. My voice echoed throughout the room.

"Here," I heard someone say on my right. I walked over and saw Maya; her leg was stuck under a big plank of wood that had fallen from the ceiling.

"Hold on a second." I said. I raised my foot and slammed it down on the plank snapping it in half. I handed out my hand and Maya grabbed it. She winced as she stood up, but when she saw my concern she said,

"It's nothing. I probably just twisted my ankle." Maya gave me a glare as if to drop the subject.

"Let's find the others." With Maya limping and Jenna on my back I lead them though the ruble. When they got to the door they saw the silhouettes of the others. The others looked fine except for a few scrapes and bruises.

"Is this what you do every day?" Ike asked. "Cause I like it. Its better then what we do every day." Misty rolled her eyes as if he acted like this a lot.

"Do you hear that?" Maya whispered as we began back tracking to the sewers. Some thing was laughing. "Everyone quiet down for a second." We all stopped walking.

"You're too late." A voice boomed loudly through the hallways. The black dots that had been along the wall were now glowing red. A mechanical voice said, "Intruders. Activate drill 14."

"Hurry up, take what you found and let's go," I commanded. We rushed down the hallways and made way to the entrance room. Laughter echoed everywhere and a girl's voice said sweetly,

"You'll never escape me. I'll always find you."

**-15 minutes-**

When we got closer to the entrance room the first thing we heard was yelling. I rushed in still carrying Jenna. Sam, Abby and Luna were having an argument with three other kids. One girl with dark silky hair was saying,

"We need to leave. Screw this. The floor was shaking and someone wants to kill us. We need to leave." The girl impatiently threw her hands into the air. Sam replied calmly, but you could tell she was grinding her teeth.

"We are waiting for them-" the girl tried to speak again. "They are trying to help you too. You could thank them by giving them ten more minutes-"

"We're here." I interrupted.

"What happened to Jenna?" Abby barked.

"She used her electrical abilities to destroy the generator, but it drained most of her energy."

"Why would you-" She was cut off by the sound of thundering feet.

"We'll talk about this later. Right now let's not fight and try to get out of here. Here take Jenna." I handed Jenna to Abby and began pushing her up the stairs. I motioned for the others to head up behind them. We were halfway up the stairs when I heard a man's voice.

"All of the systems have crashed and won't start up again. Its sabotage and we have no videos of who did it."

An authoritative voice replied,

"Make sure you capture them. If you fail I'll make your death personal. I'll make sure you and all of you creations are burned to death."

"Yes, mam," squeaked the man. "You heard her, capture them." I created a wall of fire that would hold them off for a while and then ran up the stairs.

We were back in the sewers.

"We gave up are cages for this? This is the world outside of here?" Misty asked. She veered to the right.

"No, the world isn't like this. Right now, we're underground. We just have to travel a little longer. Also, we're going this way." I pointed in the opposite direction. "Left heads towards the Hudson River and we can escape out of the sewers. Right is a dead end."

We ran through the sewers until we saw the light a head. The pipe we were running through lead out of a cliff. The sewage was flowing out into the sea.

"What do we do?" Ike asked.

"This is where you come in handy." I thrusted my hands in front of my body and raised them above my head. As I twirled my hands above my head the water below followed its movement. The water rose and became a solid platform. Maya copied my movements.

I stepped on with Maya, but the others looked uncertain. I could hear the sound of people behind them.

"Come on quickly before the catch up with us." Sam, Abby with Jenna, and Luna were the first to step on. "If you don't trust us then you are risking you freedom. Here's your chance."

Ike was the first of them to step on the platform. He joined Maya and me in channeling the water. The others were hesitant, but as soon as they heard,

"THERE THEY ARE!" They quickly came aboard.

Ike, Maya and I all propelled our arms behind us, which sent the platform riding over the water away from the pipe.

The exit of the sewers was soon behind us and we were in the middle of Lower New York Bay. I directed our platform towards an inhabited beach. By now it was late in the afternoon.

When we reached the beach all of the new kids squinted in the sunlight.

"Is it always this bright out?" Iris complained.

"I love it! It's so sunny and warm." She fell down in the sand and began to create a sand angel.

"We have to get out of here." Abby barked. "They'll have sent eraser, flyboys and god knows what else they have after us."

"I agree." Max said standing up. "But we aren't going to leave New York just yet."

"And why not? Only an idiot would stay here." Abby asked.

"Because, that's what they expect us to do. We'll go into town and they'll lose are scent. We should rest and go under the radar again. If you don't like that reason, do it for Jenna." Abby looked down at Jenna who was still sleeping in the sand and was a pale as ever.

"Fine," she muttered.

**-One hour later-**

We decided to go to stay in a hotel that's located somewhere in Lower Manhattan. We booked four rooms. They were small, but it was warm, dry and at least comfortable, so no one complained. The three boys Ike, Shadow and Long were going to share a room, while Misty, Iris, Sam and Maya would share another. Luna and I would share with Aria and that left Romie, Abby and Jenna together.

I allowed the others to get clothes to wear from the stores gift shop. Once we had all taken showers I called everyone into the biggest room.

"We're safe for now. I just want to go over a couple of things before we go to sleep. What did you find while we were in the control room?"

Maya was the first to answer.

"When we were in the control room I found these." She held out syringe needles. A glowing green liquid filled them. "They were contained in a box that was sent from China. I grabbed the note that was there, but it got lost in the debris."

"What I found also came from China. There were letters addressed to the director School 1 to the director of school 5," Iris handed me the letters. "It's weird though. The owners address is just H.M. China."

"China," I murmured. "What's so important about China?" I could only make one connection between China and the School. China was the origin of that scientist I had met about three years ago, Mr. Chu. I you don't remember him he kidnapped my mother Dr. Valencia Martinez. He was trying to get to me through people I cared about.

The thought of my mother made me remember that last time I had actually seen her. It was right before I had turned 15 and just after Dylan had joined… us. It was when I was still naïve and inexperienced with the brutal facts of life.

While I was thinking I must have scowled or something along that line, because everyone had left the room except for Sam.

"You're thinking about them again?" Sam guessed. She leaned against the wall staring at me.

"How'd you guess?" I replied looking at the floor.

"Because I know you Max. Once we got past our trust issues you allowed me to see the other side of you. You're strong, wise and an amazing person, but everyone needs a shoulder. Things like this I can just tell."

"It's just-" I cut my self-off to think and I held the sides of my head. "I'm so angry at them, but I don't know how to vent the anger... It's been there for two years and I don't know what to do. We just escaped, but I'm risking all of you lives and freedom to do my job. I don't want to fail you, but I don't want to be alone… I'm not sure if I could handle another blow. I'm fine physically, but… it hurts, so much."

"I've experienced the same feeling before. Not as deeply as you ache, but I know the feeling. When I found out my parents purposely sold me I felt like something was eating away at me slowly. But you just have to overcome it by facing the problem. I'm not saying to go find the flock, but reason with yourself. Think about the positive things that have happened. For me it's that I met you, you're the first person I feel like I can fully trust with anything."

I looked at Sam with unsteady eyes and tried to smile.

"Thank you."

"Just remember though. I don't want a cheerful and peppy Max from now on. That would just be weird." I laughed, which I guess was the major point of what she said.

"Thanks."

"That's what I'm here for."

* * *

><p>? POV:<p>

**-Outside the door-**

I crouched outside the door listening to their conversation. Believe it or not, I felt real sympathy for Max. We've gone through the exact same things. We've been betrayed by our families and left alone in the world. Unlike her, no one will ever know my secret.

No one would know of the history I have with our pursuers…

* * *

><p><strong>Alright so I guess I'll start this with a question. Does anyone know who the last POV was? If you can guess who it is just by what I said I will be amazed.<strong>

**So in this chapter I introduced seven new characters. Here they are again:**

**1. Romie-Created by: Something Generic**

**2. Ike- Created by: Eichlera**

**3. Shadow- Created by: I lOvE gIrAfFeS**

**4. Misty- lilmissspike and I**

**5. Aria- Me**

**6. Long-Me**

**7. Iris-Me**

**I would like to thank everyone who submitted a character. Also, do not be discoraged if you character isn't in this character. The people I contacted through fanfiction will have their character in the story. If I didn't contact you I'm sorry, but you character may have a chance to come in if an oppertunity opens up.**

**The other thing is I would like to clear up some things that came to my attention while re-reading my story.**

**1. Has to do with the character Aria. Yes, she may seem cruel from the way I described her, but I don't think any of you know what it would be like in her situation. I'm trying to take realistic about people's fears and betrayal was hers. The way the characters have been treated in the School has been horrible. I repeat horrible and I showed that by the rotting corpse. It's amazing that even some of them are even the slightest bit friendly.**

**2. At the end of the story Max had a mental breakdown. This is really important to include. It shows that she is still human and not invincible. She is strong willed and a unbelievable leader, but everyone needs help. The scene showed her being vulnerable, which I found need to happen at least once in the mist of the story. Also, it showed her feelings for the flock. She is angry, sad and hurt in so many ways. She's lost and unsure. That's were Sam comes in. This is their relationship. They are so close its like they are sisters and this is a really important bond.**

**3. Lastly I want you to know I gave a lot of foreshadowing. I suggest you reread it if you could catch any hints, because they will be important for the future.**

**Thank you for staying with me even though I have been busy lately. Your spirt and reviews keep me writing. **

**I would like to get at least 20 reviews.**

**-The Jade Empress**


	13. Enemies

**Hey guys, I am so sorry for the wait. Hopefully this is a good holiday present. Also, I included a couple new characters, but this time they are evil. I hope you like it. Don't worry I'll give the creators credit during and at the end of this chapter.**

**Please read on.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride James Patterson does.**

* * *

><p>Max's POV:<p>

"Let's rest here," I concluded when the sunlight began fading, signaling dusk had arrived. Right now we were near the border where Ohio meets Indiana. The clearing had enough brush to conceal us from an aerial view. When I mean us, I mean the original six.

Sam, Maya, Abby, Jenna, Luna and I.

The others weren't in the physical shape to come with us. Also, they seemed to give off mixed signs towards us.

* * *

><p><em>Flashback: The day before<em>

_I woke up early, groaning as I rubbed my eyes. It was a miracle I slept a full eight hours. I seemed to have gained an internal clock, while I was in the school. It forced me to only sleep for four to five hours at the max. They do the worst when you asleep and helpless to you surroundings._

_I shook my head as I got up. The bed barely shifted as I got out, but that small jostle managed to wake up Luna, who was curled up in a small ball on the other side of the bed._

"_Wah?" She said in confusion. Dark brown strands of hair fell in front of her green eyes making her seem less serious and more like a regular thirteen year old girl._

"_Get some more rest. I'll wake you up in twenty minutes." I said gently, directing her back under the covers. Luna happily obliged and quietly curled under the covers forming a crescent. It brought me back to when Ang… I shook my head again and decided to take a shower._

_-10 minutes later-_

_I was drying my hair when someone knocked on our door. I looked out the small peep hole, I saw Iris standing outside the door. After quickly unlocking the door, I glanced at her questioningly. She walked into the room and sat down on the small couch to talk. _

_I gestured one moment and went over to the bed. _

"_Luna," I whispered. "It's time to get up and take a shower." Giving a small grunt she got up slowly and shuffled towards the bathroom. _

_Once I heard the water screech to life I turned to Iris and said, "Yes?"_

"_I came to talk about your… plans."_

"_What about them?" I asked. _

"_I don't think we will go with you. We are thankful for you rescuing us from the School, but I feel like it's too early for them to go down the path you are heading. I understand you guys just got out as well, but at least one of you is experienced with what's considered, well… normal."_

_She looked at me as if she was trying to figure out what I was thinking. I paused before answering._

"_I… understand where you're… coming from. You need to rest, gather your strength and when the time comes I hope you join us."_

_The sound of water had stopped and Luna came out cleanly dressed, but with wet hair. I looked back over to Iris who was heading towards the door. She looked in my direction and when our eye's met she nodded._

"_We will stand behind you when you need us. Jenna will know how to find us." She said confidently and then she exited the room._

_Shaking my head my thoughts returned to the tasks ahead of us. I told Luna to go join the others and I went to the lobby to 'ask' if I could use one of the computers. _

_They let me. _

_I printed out maps of different regions around the world, things about Itex, China's production centers and other stuff… dare I say it?_

_I looked at Fang's blog._

_I know stupid right? I don't know what made me do it, but the stupid nagging part of me said to, but it didn't matter. His stupid "oh so important" blog hasn't been update for two year and it showed his true feelings for me real well. Last post was this:_

_**(Two years ago. About a week after Max left. This is before the erasers started attacking them.)**_

_**Yo,**_

_**Fang here.**_

_**Here's a tip for life: expect the unexpected. Don't underrate anyone, because it will bite you in the back one day. If only I knew that beforehand.**_

_**So I'm about to reveal some shocking news.**_

_**Max is gone.**_

_**She flew away and didn't look back. It's a relief to know that she's gone and we won't be attacked anymore, but it's very unsettling that it was her. You'd think that we could've trusted her.**_

_**Anyway, she left about a week ago and since then there has been nothing. No erasers, flyboys or mad scientist wanting to destroy half our population. Instead I brought the Flock to the beach and we just hung out for a while. It pretty interesting how much trouble one person can cause to others lives.**_

_**Fly on, **_

_**Fang**_

_At that moment of time many things flew through my mind and I am not going to repeat them, because a majority of it was curses and threats. _

_Thankfully, I regained control of my anger and shut off the computer. I made sure to delete the history and walked back to my new flock to announce we were leaving._

_We were gone in less than an hour._

_I made sure Iris and her gang had enough supplies to last a while and now we are going to our new destination. _

_To California, home to the place I spent more than half of my life._

_We are heading to the Death Valley._

* * *

><p>"Max I'm hungry. Can I have something to eat?" Jenna asked.<p>

"Is food all you can think about?" Maya asked playfully. She reached into her bag and took out granola bars from her bag. "Here, made especially for you. It's of the finest quality." She threw a bar to everyone.

Jenna rolled her eyes and ripped open the wrapper.

I guess that's another positive. It seems like everyone's gotten accustomed to each other, so we squabble like old friend.

"All right," I started wiping off my hands from the granola. "Now we get to work. Sam. Maya, go scout the area and make sure no one's close by. Luna, I believe there's a creek about fifty meters to our left. Please refill the water bottles and add the tablets to purify the water."

They all agreed and left to do their jobs. I walked over to my bag and took out stuff to sort. I took out an extra water bottle that was still full of water, but the voice stopped me.

"_**Max, they are coming. They are near. Be prepared."**_

"Wait, what do you mean?" I asked, fully knowing I wouldn't get an answer. Jenna walked over,

"What did you say Max?"

"Uh… just talking to myself," I replied, shaking my head.

I was about to suggest to her to organize her bag when I felt a prickling sensation on my neck.

Abby ran over, "Do you sen-"

She was interrupt when a full grown tiger and a panther plowed through the bushes at full speed. As the animals came closer their pace slowed down, until they were perfectly still. The tiger was in a pouncing position, all of its muscles were tense and its eyes gleamed with superiority. **(Created by:** **emilylou97 Emily-tiger/human.) **The panther was in the same position, but its eyes were not as intense**.** **Created by: livelaughloveanddance Melody- black Panther**

Abby stiffened beside me.

I heard a shuffling behind us and I turned around carefully. Out of nowhere three girls materialized. The one standing in the middle had dark gray eyes and dark brown hair. (**Taylor- lynx/Serval/Asian Golden Cat/human.)** The girl standing on her left had black hair and cold eyes. (**Created by: It's Fnicking Awesomeness. Blade- panther.) **Whereas the girl on her left was in complete contrast to the second, she had gold hair and eyes. (**Created by: maximumridefan111. Zoe-mountain lion.)**

Laughter rang from the same side of the cats. The laughter was one I had heard before. It called out in a sweet voice, "Trapped like frighten animals."

The last girl emerged from behind the bushes. She radiated confidence and superiority. She was south Indian looking, having tan skin, wide brown eyes, and silky dark brown hair. It was obvious she was the leader. **MaximumRideFanAddict Nishtha –Serval/human**

"Look who we've got here." She called out to her group. "Emily. Melody, you can transform now, we got them surrounded."

The two cat's eyes swiveled to their leader and nodded. The tiger's muscles bunched up and seemed to spaz all across its body. The tail began to shake and then it let out a piercing roar. Standing in the tigers place was a slim red head that had black highlights. She had eyes that were green and cat-like and she looked ready to shoot a commercial.

As immature as this may sound, the first thought that floated across my mind was, _great a red-head_.

The second animal seemed to be stuck in spasms, but a few seconds after she managed to transform. She had dark green eyes and dark black hair. This girl's breathing was ragged.

I noticed that all of them we're wearing well-fitting black jeans, t-shirts and combat boots. Each had a small golden pin that I could just make out the words, "Elite Hunters."

"You need to work on your transformation Melody. It took too long." The red-head snapped. Then she turned and gave a sweet smile.

"Permission to speak, mistress Nishtha?" She asked the leader.

"Permission granted, Emily." She answered looking in our direction. The red head walked up to us covering twenty-five feet in less than ten steps, it looked like she was gliding over the forest floor.

Emily stopped when she was right in front of us and looked me strait in the eye.

"Nice group you have here lioness," she kept her cold glare fixed on me, then Jenna, and then finally Abby. "To bad they'll just be our play toys," she stifled a snigger. Then returned to a relaxed state and walked around us eyes trained on Abby, "you know you're wanted, right? But I asked them to give you a leave, so I could pulverize you myself. Permission Mistress?"

"Of course," the leader laughed back.

With the speed of a cat she lunged at Abby, using all her body weight to push her thin figure forward. The attack was so quick I though Abby would be ripped to shreds, but she managed to maneuver out of the way.

"Out of shape Emily?" Abby snarled.

"Just letting you warm up," she answered. They both circled each other taking in every shift in weight, movement and every detail.

As they circled each, the leader gestured the other shape shifter and the gold eyed girl forward. "Melody attack the small sea prune, Zoe get the other girl."

Instinctively, Jenna and I stood back to back. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her arms lengthen and heard the faintest sound of buzzing in my left ear.

The two girls approached.

"They don't looks dangerous at all," Melody sniggered.

"Watch you tone," the other snapped. I saw her eyes quickly flick towards the leader as if she was checking to see if she was watching and she was. They both came at us running quickly, I knew in a matter of seconds they'd reach us and who knew what was up their sleeves.

"Let's make then eat their words and give them a small shock back to reality," I whispered under my breath.

She gave a quick nod, understanding what I meant and turned to me, her back facing the charging girls. I laced my fingers together to create a step for her.

"1… 2… 3… Go," I muttered.

She jumped up placing her right foot in my hands. I pushed up sending her backwards flying through the air. She flipped in mid-air and reached out, touching Melody's shoulder. The girl shuddered as a small current went through her body and she fell down unconscious.

The other girl kept coming at me, when she was hallway in front of me she fluidly changed into another cat. I barely slide out of the way before she pounced. Landing on one knee, I twisted around violently and uncapped my water bottle.

The girl, Zoe had landed a few feet away. When she turned back her gold eyes looked murderous and full of rage. _Just what I need_, I thought. _Pounce again_, and she did. When she was in the air I poured the contents of my water bottle out and made it twirl around my body once to gain control. Then I forced my arms forward directing all of the water at the girl.

It wasn't a lot, but it did startle her. She flew back, her head hitting a tree and then she fell to the ground with a loud thud.

* * *

><p>Abby's POV:<p>

_I hate them! I hate them_, flashed across my mind as Emily attacked me. She sent speedy little punches directed for my face and I dogged all but one, which hit me right on the cheek.

I fell down onto the ground, but rolled backwards quickly so I was back on my two feet. Right as I got up she sent another dozen punches strait at my nose.

I ducked under her arm and then punched her stomach. She doubled over and then I threw a kick to her head, causing her to fall to the ground. She was growling at me, eyes narrowed. My attacks were more like little bee stings, just making her more angry and not doing enough damage.

Emily twisted her feet out from underneath her sending me to the ground as well.

She came closer holding the collar of my shirt and crouched down. "Well dear sister," she spat in my face and then punched my jaw. "It's over." She was about to through another punch at me, but a shadow was casted over her and someone tapped her on the back.

My vision was slightly fuzzy and I couldn't tell who it was.

"You didn't ask my permission to hurt MY team mate." Max announced sending a punch towards Emily's face. The satisfying sound of her nose breaking under Max's hand made me grin.

She tumbled off of me clutching her nose. "Mistress," she shouted in a nasally voice. "She interrupted my attack, which is against fighting code. I was dealing with her and they-" She was cut off.

"Shut up," they're leader replied venomously.

Max held her hand out to me to stand up and I grabbed it thankfully.

"_**We're talking about this later." **_She communicated to me. She cast her gaze at leader, but continued. _**"I can't contact Sam and Maya, there too far and Luna is in the tree. I told her to stay quiet and not to let them know she's there, not yet."**_ Before I could say anything else I felt Max's link leave my mind and she went back to listening to the leader.

I faced the Hunters and listened to what Nishtha was saying, "-deal with you later, but now just listen to me." All six girls had surrounded us, narrowed eyed and suspicious. I met gazes with Taylor and she had an excited gleam in her eye like she was trying to tell me something.

"Now let's see if you can actually get this right. Those who did not participate in the challenges, secure the prisoners. The rest of you will go look for the-"

Her voice was cut off when Max's sudden voice rang out, "Duck!"

I saw a small black bolt looking contraption fall from the sky. I covered my head with my hands and dove for the ground. The bolt exploded causing dirt, rocks, trees, everything to fly everywhere. I waited for something to hit me, but felt nothing.

As I brought my head up slowly and I saw that the three of us were surrounded by a shimmering dome that flickered.

In the center was Max.

"_**Let's go, let's go before the smoke clears away."**_ Max directed in my head. We grabbed our bags and the other's and fled the scene quickly.

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><p><strong>What did you think? Did you like my surprise about Abby's origin? Out of curiosity did you see it coming or was it entirely unpredictable? Please tell me in a review.<strong>

**So in this chapter I introduced the six Hunters. Here's the character's in the group and their creators:**

**-Nishtha (leader: south Indian looking, tan skin, brown eyes, brown hair) - Created by MaximumRideFanAddict**

**-Emily (second in command: red head/black highlights, green eyes) - Created by:emilylou97**

**-Blade (black hair, black eyes, tan skin) - Created by: It's Fnicking Awesomeness**

**-Zoe (gold eyes, gold hair) - Created by: maximumridefan111**

**-Melody (black hair, green eyes, olive skin) - Created by: livelaughloveanddance **

**-Taylor (Dark brown hair, gray eyes, Asian.) - Created by me**

**Sorry about the wait and thank you for staying with me.**

**Please review.**

**-The Jade Empress**


	14. Family

**Hey, guys... if you're still there. I know that this took a long time to get out and I am sorry. A lot of things came up and I got pretty busy. Well anyway here's Chapter 14. (BTW: There may be a few spelling or sentance struture errors.)**

****DISCLAIMER: I do not own Maximum Ride. James Patterson does.****

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><p><em>Previously:<em>

"_Let's go, let's go before the smoke clears away." Max directed in my head. We grabbed our bags and the other's and fled the scene quickly._

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><p><em>3<em>_rd__ person POV:_

_The smoke began to fade away and sunlight poured back into a clearing. Moss, roots, branches; even small boulders had been uprooted or thrown about._

_And in the center of the clearing a girl was kneeling breathing heavily. Her dark _wavy _hair hung in front of her face as she took a slow breath. Her head slightly twitched as she heard a shuffling coming from collapsed braches._

_The red head girl, Emily scampered out of the mess pulling along two others. They approached their leader with great caution._

"_M…M…Mistress…Mistress Nishtha…are you ok?" Melody, a dark haired girl asked._

_The leader raised her head slightly her eyes narrowed with a burning hatred. She let out a blood curdling scream._

"_You… YOU… YOU WORTHLESS FOOLS! WE HAD THEM! WE HAD THEM AND THEY GOT AWAY. THREE TO SIX, CAN YOU NOT COUNT?" She was staring the three girls down and then whipped around fiercely. "WHERE ARE THE OTHERS? FIND THE OTHERS," she barked. "TODAY WAS A FAILURE AND I DO NOT TOLERATE FAILURE! NOW GO. YOU HAVE NO LESS THAN TEN MINUTES."_

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><p>Far far away:<p>

I came to a stop and let out a deep breath. I quickly licked my lips after noticing they were dry.

"I think we're safe… for now at least."

My white t-shirt was had claw marks right across my right shoulder and my skin had been lightly scratched on the surface. Abby on the other hand hadn't fared so well. Her upper lip had been split, a bruise had already formed under her left eye and her shirt had been ripped to shreds revealing her white tank top and she had a giant claw mark on her upper arm.

Looking back I must say we are causalities weren't as bad as they could have been, but they weren't pleasant either.

Jenna stood a few feet behind us gasping for air. She had dirt smudges across her face and scratches from tree branches, but other than that she was unscathed. I was proud that she kept in pace with us the whole time.

"Who… was… that?" She asked through deep breaths.

Abby's nose twitched slightly as she inhaled, but never less she said nothing.

I sighed, knowing she would not just come out with her secrets. I'd have to confront her later when we were alone.

"They called themselves the Hunters…" I replied slowly. "From what they said I can come to the conclusion that they're on to us…"

I looked at Abby whose gaze had shifted to the sky above us. A small black fleck was coming closer. "It's just Luna," she whispered softly.

Luna landed with a thump on the mossy ground. She stood up awkwardly trying to get her footing and shook her head. "They're leader, she angry, real angry Max. The group is scattered from the explosion, so we have about fifteen minutes until they regroup."

I thought for a moment, "Did you see Sam and Maya?"

"No, the tops of the tree are too thick for me to find them." I closed my eyes and put the tips of my fingers on the side of my head.

"_**Sam? Maya? Can you hear me? Where are you and are you ok?"**_

"Chillax my friend, we're right here. And you should thank moi for saving you butt out there." Sam replied as she stepped through the bushes. She had a wicked grin on her face. Maya followed closely behind with a smirk as well.

"And you can't forget my amazing aim when it comes to dropping bombs perfectly!" I raised my eye brows to say, really?

"Thank you, thank you soooooo much." Jenna squealed as she rushed over to Sam.

"Wow, what happened to you whiskers? Looks like you were trampled by elephants." Sam inspected the bruises that had darkened on her face. Abby remained silent. I cleared my throat and Sam walked away from her an over to me. "And you look like you were mauled by a kitty-cat," she snorted.

"_**Sam, come on try to act a little more serious."**_

"Whatever you say dearie."

I rolled my eyes, and she stopped her laughter.

"Let's get down to the point. We are now being tracked by a group known as the Hunters, which I can assume they are working with the School. And we know nothing about them…" My eyes quickly flicked to Abby and then back to the others. "But what we do know is that we are being targeted and that we have to be on high alert from now on."

"There horrible, with a capitol H. One of them called me a sea prune!"

I rolled my eyes again then walked over to Abby. "You're going to need medical attention and I don't have the materials keep your wound from getting infected."

Abby's eyes widened like I had grown a second head. "I'm not going to a hospital and I can't believe you'd even suggest that."

"I didn't suggest that, actually I wasn't thinking that at all. I know a person who could patch you up with ease, and is one of the best people in the world."

"I doubt that I'll come to like them." I dug through one of the bags and found a spare t-shirt and began ripping it into long strips.

"Well were still going through, because I can only soothe an injury like this, not heal it, it's too deep."

She looks like she wants to argue, but it's obvious the pain from the claw marks are helping me prove my point. Trying not to waste too much time I took out a water bottle that luckily had a small amount of water and got to work. When I finished the other girls look thankful, that we were going to start moving.

"There, that's the most I can do for now. Let's go."

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><p>About two hours later (after on unnerving plane ride):<p>

I walk past familiar scenery. Small things like a house. I come to a tree on the edge of the small town and run my hand along the rough bark. The bullet was still embedded in the tree, but it seemed to be healthy and slowly growing over it, right here. This was where I was shot.

It felt like so long ago.

Sam clears her throat and my head swivels to the direction of Abby. On the plane we had to apply more gauze. The bleedings slowed down, but didn't stop.

"Don't worry, we're almost there."

We walked for a few more minutes before a familiar house comes into view. Outside was a short fat pug on a leash that sniffing the flowers. Other than looking a bit chubbier he looked the same. As I walked through the trees he turned and growled.

"What is it Magnolia?" The fourteen year old girl holding the leash asks. She has long black hair, I couldn't see her face, but from her voice I knew exactly who she was, silently I stared at her.

The dog continued barking.

The girl turned around to look, "no one's-" Her jaw dropped in shock and her brown eyes widened.

"M…M…M…Max?" She doesn't say anything else, but just stares.

I step closer, "Long time no see sis."

Ella's wide eye's narrow and she takes a step back. "I don't know who you are, but get away from me." She turns her head and looks at the open window. "Mom!" She looks back at me her eyes scared. "Mom, **they've **come."

The door bangs open and my mom comes out… holding a gun? She cautiously walks over, so she'd standing in front of Ella. I hold my hands up in surrender and look at her with wide eyes.

"Mom, it's me, Max."

Both of them look like they're going to cry.

"No," my mom replies, "you're not going to do this again. She's dead, so why are you trying to trick us?" Her grip tightens on the weapon in her hand.

"Mom it's me, and I can prove that it's really me. Um… when I first met Ella it was because she was being bullied by three boys. Then when you were trying to get a look at the wound you sat me down in the bathroom and saw my wings, but instead of being freaked out you thought it was fascinating." They both looked at me with suspicious eyes. I continued, but my voice began cracking. "My favorite foods chocolate chip cookies, when you took the chip out of my arm I got delirious and asked for La-Z-Boy, oh and even though you wouldn't admit it Ella, I know you had a giant crush on Ig-." My voice broke and I couldn't even say his name. I knelt on the ground my hands in my lap and I stared down at the ground. I could feel Sam come out from the trees behind me. She put her hand on my shoulder for comfort, but still I couldn't move or even look up from the ground and into their eyes.

What felt like hours were really mere seconds, but suddenly a small body crashed into mine sobbing uncontrollably.

"Max… Max… I thought you had died and… and, and that I'd never tell you how much I looked up to you… and…" I closed my eyes and held her tightly.

"Shhhh, shh, it's ok. I'm here now. I'm here."

I looked up and noticed Dr. Martinez had dropped the gun on the floor and had begun walking towards me. Breathlessly she let out one word, "…Max."

She gave me a hug and asked completely stunned. "What… how… I thought-"

Even though I wanted to stay like that forever I ended the hug, but smiled. Then I gestured behind me to the others.

"Guys you can come out now. I'd like you guys to meet some special people. Rebels meet my mom and sister."

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><p>Nighttime:<p>

"I'm just going to go to the market to buy more food. Abby should sleep for the next hour or so. The cuts didn't have an infection yet, which was lucky for her, but I did give her sleeping pills for the stiches. I'll be right back, oh and Jenna and Maya are coming with me."

The door shut leaving the rest of us behind.

After explaining to my mom what had happened during the last two years of my life, she was on full mother mode. Telling us to relax, taking care of our injuries and she just went out to get groceries and to get supplies for our stay.

Everyone who stayed at home is either catching up on the needed sleep or watching TV. I decided to go up to my mom's room and check on Abby. It's the farthest room away from all the noise.

I push open the door quietly only to find the lights on and that she is up and staring out the window.

"Max?" She asks in a drowsy voice.

"Yeah, it's me. I just came to see if you were doing ok."

"Me, I'm fine nothing I can't shake off, but it's not me you should be worried about. The whole groups in danger." There was no threat in her voice, actually she seemed quite off.

"Maybe you should lie down."

"No… you need to know. You need to know!" Her voice got louder as she spoke and I nodded in agreement.

"I can tell you saw it."

"Saw what?"

"The exchange between Emily and I. I know you know we're sisters."

"Yeah, I heard her say that-"

"All I can tell you is that they're dangerous, the Hunters. They have the name, because they're meant to do this. They're meant to hunt and they rather die than give up." She stops and looks at me, before closing her eyes. I catch her a second before she passes out and then drag her back over to the bed.

_What drugs do to us,_ I thought as I walked out of the room. I hit the switch turning off the lights and then close the door quietly. I'm halfway back to the living room when one of the doors open and Ella comes out her hands full with pillows.

"Max, I thought you'd be asleep by now." I shook my head. "Well get some. I'll watch over them." She points to her room. "You can sleep in there." She's about to walk away, but stops one more time. "You know that I really missed you, right?"

I nodded and she walked away.

Tiredly I walked into Ella's room and collapsed on her bed. Thoughts rush through my head: The School, my new group, enemies, food, where we are going to go next and before I know it, I'm out like a light.

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><p><strong>Hope this was ok, and sorry about whole time leap from chapter to chapter. I have started working on the next one and hopefully will get it done by early May. <strong>

**-The Jade Empress**

***Please Review**


	15. Memories

**Hey guys, so here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it. **

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Maximum Ride. James Patterson does.**

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><p>When I woke up it wasn't, because I wanted to, instead it was because two people jumped on top of me. Immediately I shoved my attackers off, reached under my pillow and pulled out my pocket knife. My legs were wrapped in a light material and I kicked it off violently.<p>

This was all done before my eyes are open.

My eye lids snap open when I hear a thump on the ground and a chorus of giggles. The first thing I notice is that I'm surrounded by pink walls and that the sunlight blurs my vision.

On the floor Jenna and Ella look at me with surprised looks on their face.

"I told you not to do it."

My gaze shifts to Luna who's leaning against the door frame with a smug smile. I am still wearing the same clothes as yesterday and my hair is sticking all over the place.

"Thanks for waking me up," I yawn.

"I forgot how you were when it came to waking up." Ella said and Jenna giggles in reply. Luna just stared at the knife I held in my hand.

"You too?" She asks. I shrug and reply,

"It could save my life one day."

I roll out of bed and walk to the bathroom, picking up my bag in the process. Getting in the shower, the water was cold, but it did its job and woke me up. I got dressed, dried my hair, etc...

When I look into the mirror I see a sixteen year old girl, with a tired face and sharp, weathered eyes. I guess I could pass as and regular kid, you know, despite the whole wings part.

My hair is a long tangled mess. Without really thinking I pull out one of the bathroom cabinets and get a pair of scissors.

Within five minutes long strands of hair circle my feet and my head feels lighter. Now it's about shoulder length, I'll still able to be put in a ponytail, but it won't give me a disadvantage in a fight.

Sam calls me from outside of the door.

"If you're done beauty queen your mom wanted us to tell you she has a surprise downstairs-"

Before she could finish her sentence I was out of the room and running down to the kitchen. Even without my heightened senses I could tell that chocolate chip cookies had been made. I race down the hall and make it to the kitchen in 30 seconds flat.

When I reach my destination I see my mom taking out a fresh batch of cookies. The table in her kitchen is piled high with food that could have lasted an average family a week.

"Oh good Max, you're up. I thought you'd like some, but remember they're hot and to save some for you friends."

I sat down on a stool and listen as my mom talks happily as she mixes a few things in a bowl. Eventually the other came into the kitchen to eat breakfast. During the first half of the meal I was debating with the Voice about leaving. I thought one more day wouldn't hurt, it said to go now. And when breakfast came to a close I made my decision.

"I know we've only been here for a night, but I think we should get going."

Ella stops talking and her smile drops, while my mom lets out a small sigh. I continue in a logical tone, basically saying what the Voice told me.

"By staying any longer we're putting you guys in danger."

Surprisingly my mom doesn't argue. Instead she said, "I knew this was coming. It happens all too fast, but I understand where you're coming from, so I packed bags for you guys last night, while you were asleep."

"You know me so well," I say grinning. Her emotions are mixed up and hard to read. I can tell she doesn't want me to go, but the experience with Dr. Chu and being held underwater helps my case, in why we need to leave.

When we finished breakfast we stayed for another hour until it got close to midday, but by then I'm really antsy to go.

"Are you sure you guys don't need anything else?" My mom asks.

"We're sure Dr. Martinez, thank you for everything." Maya replies sweetly.

"Well… alright then…"

The others start heading towards the forest, so we could find a place to take off, but before I follow them Ella comes to give me one last hug. She whispers I'll miss you and then before she can try to say something to keep me here longer I'm off.

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><p>Later<p>

We reached the border of California by nightfall and I made the decision to take a break. The woods surrounding us had tall trees and thick healthy vegetation.

Now that the fire's been set up, we're sitting around it like we're at camp talking, then **it** happened.

"So then I bit his finger. It tasted gross, but his reaction was so funny, he started screaming like a girl-"

Sam stiffens on the left of me. Her eyes aren't focused on Jenna, who's telling the story, but staring off into the woods behind her.

"Stop, someone's walking towards us."

"Can you tell how many there are, because I can't smell anything?" Abby asks slowly and with slight disbelief.

"I can only sense… one."

They all turn to me for instructions. I hold up my index finger signaling: wait a second, and then close my eyes to focus. I began sorting out my group's thoughts until I isolate one mind that shouldn't be here… there was an odd feeling about whoever it was, but I couldn't pin point why they felt familiar.

"**Run, get away, find help…"** The person's thoughts echo loudly. _**"Go! Go where? Anywhere, but here. Don't leave. WHY? WHy? Why? why?"**_

As the person comes closer, I can tell they're weak and exhausted. I open my eyes as a girl crashes through the vegetation and falls to the ground. Before she completely collapses she manages to mutter a single word,

"help," and then her eyes roll back into her head and she faints.

We circle around her instantly like a child with a new toy. Her breathing is faint, but she's alive, barley. Her mind is complete chaos as her body takes control of the simple action to continue breathing and no thoughts can be heard.

Breaking the silence I start to take command.

"Jenna, go get a water bottle." She nods quickly and goes to the backpacks.

"Is she dead?" Luna asks without emotion.

"She's breathing I can tell you that… Can you heal her?" I ask quickly recalling her file from School 4.

"Erm…" She looks down at her feet. "It's not a power that I can use on others… It only works on me and at a real slow pace…"

Not really caring I respond with a nod and grab the bottle from Jenna as she comes back.

"Maya, do you know how to heal minor injuries with your water abilities."

She has the same reaction as Luna.

"I haven't had much practice, so no."

Sighing and taking a deep breath I turn back to all of them.

"Alright then I'll take care of the girl. Sam can you give the others jobs to finish setting up camp?"

"Will do boss," she starts herding the other girls away from the fire to give them directions.

I turn back to the girl and roll her over on her back. Then I brush hair out of her face to get a good look at her. She has dark brown locks, a dark caramel skin that's covered in dirt and grime, and an unsettling face. I can tell she's not a child, but she's not as old as me.

A teenager I think as I begin assessing her current state. She bruises all along her body, but she mainly collapsed from exhaustions, fever and minor dehydration.

I start by splashing so water on her face and her eyes flutter open. After looking at me they widen in fear.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you." I say softly as I pour some water into her mouth. She gulps it down fast. After her thirst is quenched she looks at me wide eyed. I heal her minor injuries and remove some dirt with the water and she shivers.

"It's ok," I say again quietly. Slowly her eyes begin to close and she is asleep. Her thoughts are still heavy and quick and jumbled, but she's alive.

Easily I pick the girl up and bring her closer to the fire. I sit down next to her silently. Everyone else is done with their jobs and are staring at her.

"What are we going to do with her?" Abby asks.

"She looks really weak." Say Luna. Jenna replies in agreement,

"Yeah, and aren't we going to the next School like… tomorrow?"

"Guys we can't just leave her alone," Maya sighs.

"She's not our responsibility," argues Abby.

"So we're just going to leave her?"

"I never said that."

"You were hinting towards it."

"Stop," I reply. "She's staying until her fever has gone down and she's well enough to go on her own. For now we will keep her with us. As for the School, yes we are going to it tomorrow, but one of us will stay with her. Do any of you volunteer?"

No one volunteers and we sit in silence for a minute. Just as I'm about to speak Maya raises her hand.

"I'll watch over her."

"Fine, it's now been decided. Tomorrow we're going to the next School and Maya is watching the girl. Any questions?"

Abby asks, "Do you have a plan on getting into the School?"

Dryly I smile, "Yep and I'll tell you in the morning. Any other questions?"

No one raises their hand.

"Good, now let's sleep."

"Can I take first watch?" Asks Luna and I nod. I walk over to a "bed,' which is really just a blanket.

_**"Is she special****?" **_The voice asks out of nowhere.

"**I can't tell,"** I respond in my head. **"She could have retractable features though, like my wings, Abby's claws or she could just be normal."**

"_**Possible, all things are possible… Check the pocket of you jacket**_."

I shove my hands into my pockets only to feel paper crumple beneath my fingers. I pull out a crumpled ball of paper.

"**Ok voice…. Now you're really creeping me out. How'd you get that in my pocket?" **I asked sarcastically.

"_**I didn't put it there. Now just open it up already."**_

I smooth out the crinkled paper only to throw it on the ground. My eyes widen and I stare at it in horror.

It's a picture.

In the middle I'm on someone's back laughing hysterically. The boy underneath me is smirking ever so slightly and the others surrounding us are laughing.

Before I even realize it my fingers are in its direction and the picture that was once there is nothing but ash.

"**Why show me that now?"** I think angrily and of course now I get no response. Out loud I mutter,

"You good for nothing…"

"The voice bothering you again Max?" Lune asks.

"Yeah," I respond shrugging nonchalantly.

"Ok," she turns back to the fire poking it with a stick not finding it weird.

I release a breath and lay down on the ground. **Stupid voice**, I think. **Stupid destiny. It's my life, I'm the one who lives it. Why can they just leave me alone?**

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><p><strong>This chapter was... I don't know how to explain it, but it's important, although not to much happens. I do promise that the next chapter will be REALLY satisfying though. Someone's going to be coming in an it changes everything for Max. Can you guess who it is? (I think you can) <strong>

**Anyway please review.**

**-The Jade Empress**


	16. Admission

**Hey guys... sorry about the wait... really sorry and I hope your still there.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Maximum Ride. James Patterson does.**

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><p>Death Valley, California<p>

Max's POV

I'm standing in the middle of a wide dirt road.

The sun is blaring down from above and a light breeze is blowing dust into my eyes. I hear a rumbling and a small pebble begins dancing at my feet. I squint and use my hand to cover my eyes. About a mile away I can see the smoke billowing in the sky.

A truck is approaching, a big one.

I remain rooted to my spot with my arms crossed over my chest and wait.

1…2…3…4. I count for 30 seconds and then the truck becomes much clearer. I can see a young man sitting in the front seat talking on his phone. He is dressed in a soldier like uniform. I count another 10 seconds.

He finally sees me and slams his foot down on the break.

Baffled he stares at me for a few second and then gets out angrily slamming the door.

"What are you doin' here girlie?"

"I'm trying to get to the School, I know you've heard of it." I point to the security card that's poking out of his left breast pocket.

"Strait to the point… eh? Well this ain't your property, its government territory, so…" Suddenly one of those creeper smiles appears on his face. "Actually don't worry doll. I won't rat you out," he licks his lips. "But I need something in return."

I frown at him and he grins again.

"Now a pretty, little girl like yourself shouldn't be out here alone. Hop in, I'll take you for a ride."

"I'd looove that." I respond. His eyes shine in delight. "But there's just one thing Mr."

"Yes?" He asks curiously. A shadow falls across his back.

"You're taking us there and nothing else."

"Us?"

"Yes, us." Sam replies from behind him. The man whirls around only to see Sam standing with her arms crossed and laughter in her eyes. He licks his lips again and his right hand slowly moves toward his back pocket and grabs something small.

"Drop it," Abby whispers in his ear fiercely.

He whirls around again only to find Abby standing next to him. His right hand drops a pistol and she picks it up. His shifts his weight side to side.

"Don't run," I warn.

"Yeah, I'm not sure how to work this thing, but I bet you I could figure it out before you reached the truck." Abby twirls the pistol in her hand.

He freezes.

"Sit down on the ground and don't move-" Sam commanded. He opens his mouth to argue, but Abby pulls the trigger. A loud BANG sounds and he drops to the ground like a rock.

"That was the warning shot," Abby growls.

"I didn't mean to. I try to be good, it jus' don't work for me. I sorry, I sorry. Don't kill me. Please. I'll do whatever."

Now he's shaking and sobbing uncontrollably.

"We're not going to hurt you."

"You not?"

"Only if you close your eyes and count to thirty."

Immediately he shuts his eyes and clasps his hands together, so it looks like he's praying. I walk toward him and put my hands on top of his head. He shivers, but does nothing.

"**Stop shaking…"**I think loudly.

"Stop shaking," he mumbles in response.

"**..Open your mind…"**

His lips form the words, but don't make any noise.

"All you need to do is relax and I can guide you through it all." His shoulders drop and his muscles relax.

For a moment I hear nothing, but in the silence I can feel the memories rattling off of him one by one. Memories of his wife leaving him for another man, a richer man. How his only son hates him for it and that he feels like a disappointment, which is why he's…well… how he was a few moments ago.

His life story flashes before me within seconds. Then in return, in the same amount of time, I show him ours.

When I'm done he stands up teary eyed and walks to the back of the truck. It opens with a click.

"Let's go," I command.

Jenna and Luna scamper out from behind the rocks and bushes to join us. They follow me as I climb into the back of the truck. We sit on some of the crates.

The man, or should I say Marcus, shuts the doors submerging us in darkness. He walks around to the driver's seat, hops in and starts up the truck.

There is a faint light as Luna begins to glow and I can make out everyone.

"Alright, this is the last chance for any of you to get some rest. We'll be there in thirty minutes." Abby closes her eyes, but it's obvious she is not going to sleep. Jenna leans against her and Luna leans up against the truck wall.

The back wheel of the truck hits a rock and jolts some of the crates. I take a closer look.

Some are from different states in America and others are from foreign countries like China, Africa, France and Australia.

"Anything living in there?" I ask Sam.

She scans the boxes. "Nope," she says, popping the p.

"Smell anything strange?"

Without opening her eyes Abby responds, "No."

Curiosity wins the best of me and I crack one of the boxes from China carefully. Inside there are glass tiles that are carefully wrapped. Each square is about the size of my palm. I pick one up gently to get a good look.

Instantly I feel nauseous and the room around me begins swirling. My hands let the glass drop and the feeling goes away.

I expect to hear the shattering of glass, but it just hit the ground with a thud and remains intact.

"What are you doing?" Luna asks rolling her eyes. She grabs the square with one hand and holds it out to me. She has no reaction to it.

"Do you feel weird?" I ask. "A sick puking feeling?"

"Um… no."

I pull my jacket sleeve over my hand and take it with great caution. This time nothing happens. Examining the glass I stare at it confused. Making sure the square doesn't touch me directly I put it in my jean pocket.

The truck begins to slow down and I quickly close the crate. Abby shakes Jenna awake.

"We need to check the truck before you go into the facility." A women's voice says right outside the door.

After a small pause Marcus responds, "Okay."

Jenna looks at me wide eyed. Before anyone can move the truck door opens.

"**We are invisible. You can't see us. We are invisible. There is nothing in the back of the truck."** I mutter under my breath and in my head. My eyes are shut and I'm fully concentrating.

I open my eyes slowly only to see an eraser looking down at me, inches from my face. His breath makes me want to puke. He sniffs for a second, staring directly behind me and then he moves away shouting,

"ALL CLEAR!"

I sigh in relief and look at the others who are all have a confused look in their eyes. Abby looked like she had been ready to pounce her claws unsheathed.

"**It was an image projection. He saw nothing, smelled and heard nothing."** They all nod.

There is the creaking of a gate and the truck starts up again. I smile to myself.

"**We're in."**

* * *

><p><strong>Note: The special person is not Marcus. During my planning I miscalculated the arrival of certain characters, so really the next chapter is the deal breaker, but I promise it will be up soon.<strong>

**-The Jade Empress**

***If you're still there please review.**

*** Also, I'd like to know whose POV do you want to see more of?**


	17. Caged

**And now here is half of the moment you've been waiting for. I know you know what is, but I'm not going to clearly state it just in case you don't. Wow already on the third School, School 2.**

**By the way RoyalCrown29 - thanks for the suggestion of "After Angel" by musikfreakmeg. I agree with you I found it very realistic and I haven't finished reading it yet, but I plan on it.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Maximum Ride. James Patterson does**

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><p>Inside the Facility (School 2)<p>

Luna's POV

Getting into the facility isn't that hard. I mean, there were erasers and scientist here and there, but we avoid them with ease or Max does her mind warp-thing.

This time Sam suggests we don't split up, so now I'm stuck listening to the jabber mouth. I don't think she understands the importance of getting out of here without attracting unwanted attention.

"Can you just be quiet for second?" I snap.

Jenna crosses her arms, "Gee, you have a temper."

I roll my eyes in reply and walk a head of her, towards Max.

"**Don't like her constant chatter?"** Max asks with a grin.

"**It's just so annoying,"** I respond.

"**You'll get used to it. It may be annoying, but you don't realize how much you'd miss her constant talking..."** She barely whispers the last part and then I feel her presence leave.

"Yeah right," I mutter under my breath.

When we reach the room that supposed to be holding the mutants it is dark. Sort of an eerie darkness, because the lights above are flicking.

Off, on…

Off, on…

Off, on…

The room seems to be never-ending and full of cages. There must be at least a hundred in total all lined up in neat organized rows.

Strangely everything and everyone is silent.

"Creepy setting," Sam states. "This is where they kept you?"

"Yeah," Max responds. "I'll never forget the cages… alright everyone let's spilt up, open cages, keep them quiet and we'll be out of here in no time. Sam you got the load?"

Sam nods.

"We meet up back here, and then we'll move on to faze two."

I walk off towards the left side. The sound of shoes hitting the floor soon disappears, until I only hear my own. Though Abby's walking next to me her footsteps are indistinguishable and her combat boots make no more noise than a smallest click. She walks stealthily like a…. like a cat stalking its prey.

"Smell anything?" I ask in a hushed tone.

She doesn't respond. I turn to look at her and her hand is pressed to her lips, telling me to be quiet. Once she sees me nod, she closes her eyes and sniffs. Her head twitches and flicks to a cage that is silent.

"There," she points her finger at the cage.

Cautiously we walk forward. I peer through the bars thinking I'd see something, maybe a silhouette of a person or a limb, but nothing's in there.

"Are you kidding me?" I hiss. "There's nothing in here."

"Shhh," she says. "It's not that they're not there, they just don't want to be found. Come out were not the bad guys."

There is no answer. As I turn away, a ghostly white hand appears in midair and then another grabs it and they vanish together. It was the smallest movement, but I saw it.

"A chameleon hybrid," she says in a surprise. "I haven't seen one of them in a while. I thought they were eliminated."

Eliminated, just another word for murdered or killed.

"They can blend in with whatever surrounding they want to, until they're practically invisible. Got to hate them, they're one of the mutants created to become spies."

That gives me an idea. They aren't invisible and they have to change according to scenery…

"Abby cut the lock."

She unsheathes her claws, which makes the sound knives would make, if they were being sharpened against each other. With her claws she cuts off the lock. I concentrate for a few seconds and once I hear a small hum I move even closer to the cage. My body is now glowing and I can see the two kids dark outlines.

Before they can adjust Abby opens the small cage door and lunges at them. I shut it behind her and it is no contest. Within seconds she has both in her grasp. She walks back out of the cage, ducking on her way out, holding both of them by their arms.

One is a boy who is obviously older than me. He's at least a foot taller, but painfully thin. His dark hair barely covers his shiny green eyes, which are filtering around nervously. (**Created by: Something Generic.) ** He tries to blend in again, but Abby violently shakes him.

"Why even try?" She asks him. In return he gives her a sly smile.

"To what do I owe this pleasure of meeting you fine young ladies?"

"Shut up Cam. God, you're an idiot." His partner snaps.

She's much younger, about my age. Like the boy, Cam, she has pale skin and looks underfed. That is where the similarities stop. She has uncut, strait red hair, hazel eyes, freckles and a look of disgust on her face. (**Created by: 13pommylony13)**

"You know you love me Holly-"

"Shut up."

"Abby why don't you let them go?" I ask.

It's clear she does not want to, but she releases her grip on them and crosses her arms. The girl Holly eyes me as if I'm a weak link and I can see her preparing to run. This only makes me angry.

"I wouldn't run if I were you," I say icily. "I can take you down just like my friend right behind you. You have at ten percent chance of getting out of this School alive and no chance of surviving without us."

"So ladies, you're here to rescue us?" Cam looks at Abby wide-eyed and moony for a second and then snaps back to a serious face and growls. "Because I don't believe a single word."

"You just can't show up and tell us what to do. We don't have a reason to trust you." Holly snaps again with a new confidence that her partner is on her side.

"Well unless you don't want to be burnt to bits in a few hours when we destroy this place you really have no choice, do you?"

Both of them look at me, surprise written all over their faces. Then Holly starts laughing. "You… take down… this place? Stop… I'm laughing too much."

"You're wasting our time," Abby growls. She grabs both of them by the arm and pulls them along. "Just come with us we'll explain later."

She turns to me and grumbles, "I hope the others are having better luck."

* * *

><p>Max's POV<p>

I hold a ball of fire in the palm of my hand as I walk down the middle isle. I let out a sigh of relief now that I am alone.

I mention them too much. I'm over them. They are dead to me. That how I wish it was, but it doesn't work that way. Life's not that easy.

I hear whimper to my left. Yes, the mission, that's why I'm here, not to drown myself in pity.

I move towards a rather small cage. Inside I see a girl about my age with ratty black hair, pale skin and green squinting eyes. (**Created by: HeAt-StRoKe)**

"My eyes. It hurts," she squeaks. She's covering her face with her hands and is withering around on the floor.

I stand before her cage confused. The fire? Is that what she means? It's not that bright, actually it's quite dim.

Three more faces appear. Two boys in a cage to the right and a girls face in a cage to the left.

"She's sensitive to the light. She just needs to adjust, don't blow it out and slowly approach her." A calm voice instructs me.

I move closer to the girl's cage and after a few more minutes her shaking begins to slow down. I reach for her lock and melt it off her cage. I take a step back and gesture for her to come out. Her head flicks up after a few moments and she speaks.

"Free? I'm free?"

She jumps up and leaps out of the cage.

"I'm free! Free!"

She runs up to me and looks me with wide green eyes.

"I'm… I'm April, who are you?"

"I am Max," I reply. Her eyebrows furrow for a second and she mutters under her breath. Then she looks at me with recognition.

"Max… Max Ride. Maximum Ride. The Maximum Ride?"

"…Yes," I respond. I go over to the cage on the right and begin melting the lock. "How do you know who I am?"

"I never thought I'd meet you! This is so exciting. Me, I've being rescued by Maximum Ride. The Savior to all mutants!" She speaks quickly with excitement in her voice.

I knew Jeb and the Voice have told me I would lead the Next Generation, but I thought only I knew about that. Her words caught me so off guard I just said, "Er…"

Quickly I finished melting the locks off of the two other cages. The girl from the left ran over to the two boys. She gave each of them a rather awkward hug and then turned to me.

She had dark curly hair, serious grey eyes and pointy elf like features. From what I could tell she had no extra limbs and could pass as normal. The only strange thing was that she was wearing what seems to be a 'metal' helmet.

Compared to her small stature the boys were both taller than her and acted like they were her personal body guards. I came to the conclusion that the two boys are related, due to their similar facial and body structures. The elder had short hair and dark brown eyes, while the younger had curly brown hair and green eyes. Like the girl I saw nothing strange about them.

"Maximum Ride… why are you here?" The elder brother spoke.

"Kids don't belong in cages."

"Well put. I'm Matt, this is my brother Clint and our friend Aspen. Now how are we getting out of here?"

Quickly I do my last scan for a living, breathing soul. There are no more.

"Why aren't there more mutants, there has to be at least a hundred cages?"

"Most of them were shipped off or killed recently. You came just in time for us," April shudders.

"Ok, I promise I'll get you out of here alive. I have more people with me, we just need to get out of here without drawing any atten-"

The lights go on full powered and the whole room is visible. A loud siren noise blasts through the room and an intercom goes crackles to life and I barely make out the word through the chaos.

"Security breach. Plan Alpha. Intruders are in the building. Commencing lockdown."

* * *

><p>Sam's POV<p>

Even before the sirens began screeching I knew we were in trouble. I know I was supposed to be in charge of the bombs **and** Jenna, but it's not my fault that she started arguing with them and that the mutant attacked her.

It's also not my fault that one of them is currently unconscious and that others were screaming at me so much that I was too late to stop a scientist from pulling an alarm.

Now I am currently carrying an unconscious raven haired boy with the help of his good looking mutant friend.

"If you blame me, I will deny everything," I mutter to Jenna as we run. The rest of the group falls behind me quickening their pace. Together Jenna and I found a total of six mutants in our aisle.

Considering one is knocked out and the others are sickly thin I think we made pretty good time getting to the door we originally entered from.

"What took you so long?" Abby yells at us. "Our plan was a covert mission and the look on you faces tells me you're the ones who screwed up."

"Well sorry Kitty Cat, didn't mean to pull your whiskers," I snap back.

"**Quit fighting and run," **Max shouts in my head.

"**Well where are you?" **I shout back.

As soon as I ask, she barrels past me with the mutants she found following.

"**In front of you, now start moving. Go strait, take a left and then a right and continue down the hallway."** She commands everyone.

My legs that had been motionless are now moving as quickly as possible. The boy I'm holding gives a weak moan.

Luckily I didn't have to remember the instructions she gave me, because I'm right at her heels. We run down the hallways, pushing screaming scientists out of the way, and leaving destruction in our path.

When we come to the exit the metal doors have just slammed together with a thud. The boy I was holding begins to move, so I drop him on the ground, figuring he'll be able to stand on his own. Then I pound my fist against the door.

"Come on, open," Abby yells angrily. She slashes her claws at it metal door, but her claws bounce off harmlessly and sparks fly.

"Stop," Max shouts. Then she takes a breath, puts her ear against the door and gives it a small tap. "I'd try to melt it, but it would take too long, because it's so thick. Anyone?"

A small girl that had been following Max moves forward.

"I can help," she says in a quiet, direct voice. "Just get this helmet off of me."

She points to a small key hole at the base of a helmet she wore. I took out a paperclip and within seconds the helmet was off.

She gestures for the rest of us to back up. Then she stands in front of the doors.

Her hands are pointed directly at it and her eyebrows furrow in concentration. I can hear a pounding on the ground from feet and yelling.

"They went that way!"

There is the trembling of the doors and the creaking of its gears. Suddenly the girl in front of us whips her hands out to the side and at the exact same time the doors fling open, ripping off its hinges.

Max pats the girl on the back and says, "Good job."

We all run out of the School closely in one pack. The fence wasn't really a problem now that the girl's helmet was off. She waves her hand in its direction and a small section rips off out of our way, which is very convenient.

Beads of sweat now coat her forehead and she stumbles as she walks.

"I got her," says a boy with green eyes. He picks her up and we continue on.

We make it to the forest where Maya and that girl are hiding and there is total silence. It's too silent.

The air is heavy and I can tell that the School is in shock, that's why we have not been followed, but I also know they will be after us in a matter of moments.

"What should we do?" I ask Max. Her eyes she is thinking exactly what I thought.

"We-"

A shout comes from the bushes and Maya appears pulling along the sickly girl that came to us earlier.

"Max! It's them. The girl she's… she's Nudge!" Maya shouts. "They were in the School too."

I look at Max who stiffens next to me. She looks at the girl and her eyes widen in surprise and then they narrow. The girl, Nudge looks much better now. Her hair is up, the dirt has been washed away and her cuts have begun scabbing over. She has an anxious look on her face.

There is a buzzing in the sky and I look in the direction we came from. There are hundreds of flyboys, heading right in our direction.

I turn to look at the new mutants and then realize something about the ones **I** found.

Then I mentally slap myself.

It's the flock. Each matching the exact description that Max had given me. The boy who attacked Jenna, Fang. The male model – Dylan, the pale tall one – Iggy and the two blond siblings – Gazzy and Angel.

I stare at them in horror.

This shouldn't be happening, not now right when we're preparing to fight for our lives.

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><p><strong>Now that it's summer I'm hoping I'll get to post more and I'd like to send out a shout out to everyone who has stayed with my story, it's really appreciated.<strong>

**In this chapter I introduced seven new characters (ironically just like last time they went to a School.) Here they are again:**

**1. Cam-Created by: Something Generic**

**2. Holly- Created by: 13pommylony13**

**3. April- Created by: HeAt-StRoKe**

**4. Aspen- Me**

**5. Clint- Me**

**6. Matt - Me**

**7. Arachne - Me (I didn't properly describe her, because Sam's POV didn't really have a chance since to, but later on she will be described.)**

**There are still openings for characters to come in, since the plot is not over yet.**

**-The Jade Empress**

***Please Review**


	18. Reunion

**Hey guys, I am so sorry for the wait. **

**Please read on.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride James Patterson does.**

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><p>Max's POV<p>

We run out of the School as quickly as possible and into the woods. The others are following me blindly as we push through bushes and branches.

Our feet are hitting the ground in sync. After a few moments I skid to a halt to listen for any sound, but there is only a heavy silence.

"What should we do?" Sam asks. Her eyes are flashing brightly and I know she's trying to think of every possible option. The bombs have been placed and should go off about now, so part A of the mission was successful, but part B the escaping part isn't even near par.

"We-"

The bushes rustle behind us and I prepare for a hoard of flyboys or those crazy Hunters to come out, but it is Maya who appears. I let out a sigh of relief, good we won't have to go looking for her. She's pulling the girl we found the other day behind her.

Before I can speak Maya shouts.

"Max! It's them. The girl she's… she's Nudge! They were in the School too."

I feel my muscles tense and a shiver flashes through my body. The dark skin, dark eyes and the curly mane of hair, _how stupid could I have been? Why didn't I realize who she was?_

My eyes focus on Nudge and lock with her gaze. Her eyes are unfocused and she looks queasy, but that doesn't stop her from recognizing me and letting out a small gasp.

My face goes void of all emotion and my eyes narrow. She shrinks under my gaze. Wait… Maya said they, they, THEY, the word echo loudly through my head.

There is humming in the air and I know the School has sent flyboys, hundreds in fact, but all I can focus on is turning around. As I turn, I wish this, all of this is really bad dream. That I'll wake up far, far away, but unfortunately when I make the full one hundred eighty degree turn, it's them.

The sight of all of them together disgusts me. Rage fills my body and like a wildfire I am consumed with only one thought, revenge. I want them to feel pain. And not just any pain, my pain.

These thoughts fill my head within seconds and I don't stand a chance against my anger. Flames rise around me, tendrils wrapping around my body like protection.

"Max?" Gazzy whimpers. A large flame lashes out towards them and they all try to jump back. The tip catches Angel by her dress and she lets out a squeak as Fang pulls both her and Iggy back. I can only watch as I move toward their cowering bodies.

"Now who's weak?" I ask cruelly, letting out a hysterical laugh. Then I add sarcastically, "it looks like you're doing great without me."

I know it's not the time, especially with the flyboys overhead, but I'm so angry. Then I realize this is how I will use my anger, not at the ex-flock, but at an unfeeling target.

Then I will deal with them.

I turn my back to them and look up at the swarm of flyboys with absolute hate.

I look up to see how close they are now, but all I see is a storm of bullets heading our way. The bullets charge through the air looking like a locus swarm. My eyes flicker back to ex-flock and the small control I have burns away with my growing rage.

The fire that's licking at my sides is also roaring in my ears, the heat causes my forehead to break out in a sweat. Red flashes across my visions and then my mind goes blank and my body takes over.

* * *

><p>Maya's POV:<p>

Max angry, is not good. In any case whatsoever.

My fingers tighten around Nudge's wrist once Max lashes out at the flock, ready to pull her back from the flames.

The flames surrounding her emit a searing heat causing me to look back. The fire snakes around her body like it's alive and hungry.

"Fall back," I hear someone scream.

I want to move, but the flames are mesmerizing and I continue staring.

Max is screaming at the Flock, her eyes wide and arms moving for emphasis, which cause the flames to expand more.

Something or should I say someone knocks into me, pushing both Nudge and I onto the ground.

"What-" I ask slightly dazed.

"Come on move. Do you have a death wish?" Abby snarls. Where I had been standing only a few minutes ago, is now completely covered by large branches that are on fire.

I shake my head and tell myself to snap out of it.

Sam rounds up the other mutants and is pushing them not too gently away from the clearing.

"What is she doing?" Luna shouts over the buzzing.

"Let's just say Max is having a… little meltdown. Now hurry up and move," Sam gives another push and they continue to run. "Maya! Abby! Let's go." I look back at Max who is no longer looking at the flock, but at the flyboys.

The Flock they're still here.

"We can't leave," I shout. "The Flock's still out there."

Something silver flashes in the corner of my eye and then pain erupts from my right shoulder.

"Bullets!" I scream. "They've opened fire." My left hand clutches my shoulder and I hold Nudge with my other hand, grinding my teeth together, so I don't scream profanity.

I run in the directions of the others.

* * *

><p>Angel's POV:<p>

It's too much. All the thoughts, memories and emotions. They just flood my head overwhelming all of my senses. They blur together so much I can barely hear my own thoughts. I don' t feel like myself anymore, just a gate way for others to vent even if they don't know what they're doing and it makes me sick.

The only significant thought I can make out is that: Max is alive. The reason why? Because everyone's thinking it.

Fang is a nervous wreck and I can see his whole body shaking.

Dylan… oh Dylan… he's thinking about he can win her back. He instantly perked up when he saw her emerge as the group's leader.

Iggy, I don't know how to explain it, but there was just an unimaginable amount of pain. At first he couldn't recognize her, but once she spoke, his mind made the connection. He then releases a loud gasp in disbelief and muttered her name under his breath. Think of a pain in your chest and in your eyes that just…keeps on expanding, that's how I would describe his pain, but I know it's also more than that. His light blue eyes are dead, his skin is drained of color and he's shaking worse than Fang.

It might be strange, but the only person to show happiness is Gazzy… He's not crying, shaking, or feeling pain. Instead he's completely dumbstruck, his mind is blank.

Even though Nudge is across the clearing I can still feel her shock. She hard to read, but never less she is feeling it.

As for me, I don't know how I feel. Now that I've sorted through the others emotions and pushed them from my mind, I still don't know.

Should I cry for my actions? Jump for joy, because she's alive? Tremble for the fact that she hates us? Or stare in awe?

I just don't know anymore.

* * *

><p>Sam's POV:<p>

This is a mess.

Maya is the last of our group to flee the scene. Of course… the ex-flocks still out there, but I can't go out. It would be suicide.

I can barely make out Max from inside her fiery bubble, but I know she's safe. There is a puddle of metal bullets in the surrounding area.

Suddenly the bubble erupts and opens like a flower and tendrils of fire soar up and out of the center, where I presume Max is standing. They fly up into the sky and that's all I can see from my position.

Seconds after, the rain of bullets stop and deformed pieces of metal hit the ground.

My eyes immediately go to Max. The fire surrounding her seems to dissolve and leaves her standing in the clearing in total silence.

"Max," a small voice calls out. Angel? I think that's her name. She emerges with the rest of the ex-flock, from the smoke behind Max and runs towards her, her arms outstretched for a hug.

Max's drops to the ground and Angel stops in her tracks wide eyed.

"Max," she calls again.

Nothing. No reply.

Another person decides to come closer. This time the dark haired fellow, Fang. Just recognizing who is spurs me to come out from behind the tree and run over to Max, but the boy, seeing he started out closer, reaches her first and hesitantly stares at her.

He reaches forward to touch her forehead, but I smack his hand away.

"You have no right," I say, crossing my arms.

His eyes narrow and he touches the back of his head, remembering that I'm the one who gave him the lump.

"You," he mutters angrily. Then he looks behind me and I know the others have come back. "I see you have more friends."

Angel rushes to his side and her eyes look at me and I can feel her trying to prod my mind for openings and she gasps when she can't break the barrier Max helped me develop in the School.

"Not strong enough to get through our mind blocks?" Luna comments from behind me, I can tell by the sound of her voice she's smirking. I quickly look back and see only Luna and Abby came back.

"What are you doing with her?" Fang asks.

"Like it's any of your business," Abby responds snobbishly, which makes me crack a smile.

"What did you say-" Angel tries to say in an offended tone.

"You know, people usually introduce themselves, before asking questions, but because you don't have the proper manners I'll have to do it myself. Abby, Luna, meet the flock. The ones who sent Max packing."

"WE DID NOT!" Fang roars. He tackles me and we go flying back on to the ground. Roughly I shove him off me and then pin him to the ground by pressing his arms to his back and his head sideways on the ground.

"Not a good choice," I state. Then I look at the others, "Abby can you carry Max away from here? Luna, bring these people to the others." I look Angel in the eye and add sweetly, "Don't try anything."

* * *

><p>Max's POV :<p>

Everything is fuzzy. I can't move or see anything. Someone is shouting, and a something briefly skims my forehead, it is a warm and familiar touch even though it only lasts for a second. There is more yelling, but it slowly becomes muffled and distant.

And then I black out.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry about the wait and thank you for staying with me.<strong>

**Please review.**

**-The Jade Empress**


	19. Reality

**Sorry for the wait, p****lease read on.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride James Patterson does.**

* * *

><p>3rd person POV<p>

He sits in a small dark room quietly typing on a laptop. The only sound is the clicking of the keyboard.

The computer screen illuminates the round glasses hanging on the tip of his nose, the glasses are threatening to come off, but what he is writing seems to have a higher priority.

He holds his breath as if the slightest movement would trigger an invisible alarm…..

C… then he types an O… his fingers find the next letter, which is N… next is a T… following closely after is a R and he finishes the world with an O and a L….

His breathing is ridged and suddenly the door he has his back to is flung open. Furiously, he finishes the last few words, shuts his computer and holds it to his chest like it's his life line.

"So… the rumors were true," a man strolls in wearing a dark black suit, his American accent is very thick. In his hand he holds a small black revolver. "You did well for a human… But you must have known that I'd figure it out as soon as you came to the compound."

The man against the wall eyes him warily.

"Well say something…or how about you give me that?" He points to the laptop that the scientist is holding in his arms. Two other men and a young boy enter the room.

"I'll kill the boy." The man in the dark suit continued. "I know you're fond of him.

The little boy gulps and looks at the scientist warily. Eyes filled with tears and his dirty brown hair covering his eyes.

The scientist let out a deep breath and combs his hair back with his finger. The guards and the man in the silk suit watch the moving hand carefully. What they do not know it that this is a distraction and his other hand wriggles around the computer heading for a small button on its side. The scientist gazes at the boy, then the computer, before straitening his posture.

"I fear, you are not in the position to make that an order Mr. Cheong."

Before anyone could raise a weapon he presses a button on his laptop and then smashes it on the ground violently.

Calmly, the man known as Mr. Cheong growls, "Wrong answer Jeb."

There is a loud bang and then silence.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry about the wait and thank you for staying with me.<strong>

**Please review.**

**-The Jade Empress**


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